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HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
OF MODERN KNOWLEDGE 

No. 78 

Editors: 

HERBERT FISHER, M.A., F.B.A. 
Prof. GILBERT MURRAY, Litt.D., 

LL.D., F.B.A. 
Prof. J. ARTHUR THOMSON, M.A. 
Prof. WILLIAM T. BREWSTER, M.A. 



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HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 

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LATIN AMERICA 

BY 
WILLIAM R. SHEPHERD 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ; HONORARY 
PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CHILE ; CORRESPOND- 
ING MEMBER OF THE SPANISH ROYAL ACADEMY OF 
HISTORY, OF THE ARGENTINE SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY 
AND OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF HISTORY 
OF VENEZUELA ; MEMBER OF THE 
HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA 




NEW YORK 
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 

LONDON 
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE 






C(»>TRIGaT, 19X4, 

BY 

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 



MAR 13 1914 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 



^7^ A^ 

©CI.A362920 



PREFACE 

"Latin America" is a geographical ex- 
pression applied to twenty republics in the 
New World. Eighteen of them have arisen 
from Spanish origins, and hence are known 
collectively as "Spanish America." Of the 
other two, Brazil has sprung from Portu- 
guese settlement, and Haiti owes its exist- 
ence to France. 

The present work is intended to serve as 
an introduction to the study of the various 
republics in Latin America. Given the 
small amount of space that is available, to 
treat each country in separate fashion would 
be to compile a statistical summary. Since 
the group of states is numerically large and 
their points of resemblance, on the whole, 
are greater than their points of difference, 
to emphasize their individuality throughout 
would be as difficult a performance as that 
of trying to satisfy each state that full jus- 
tice was being shown it in comparison with 
its fellows. After all, the existence of twenty 
republics, as such, is less important than is 



vi PREFACE 

the evidence of what they have done to 
merit attention. 

Unfair and erroneous notions, which are 
only too prevalent about the lands of 
Latin America, are best dispelled by bring- 
ing forward the proofs of civilization. To 
this end institutions and culture should be 
made the touchstone that determines ap- 
preciation. As exemplified in the colonial 
period, they will reveal the kind of equip- 
ment with which the republics started on 
their career. As exemplified by one state 
or another since that time, they will indicate 
the extent to which any given republic has 
advanced to the forefront of nations that 
have a direct share in the general progress 
of mankind, or has lagged behind them. 
For these reasons the contents of the book 
have been arranged, in the main, so as to 
describe phases of civilization, and to draw 
from one country or another illustrations of 
similarities, or of differences, in character, 
spirit and attainment. 

W. R. S. 



CONTENTS 

PART I 

The Colonies 

chap. page 

I The Expansion op Spain and Portugal . . 9 

II Government 19 

III Social Organization 29 

IV Economic Conditions 38 

V The Church ". . . 49 

VI Intellectual and Artistic Status 59 

PART II 

The Republics 

VII Independence 69 

VIII National Development 81 

IX International Relations 96 

X Geography and Resources 107 

XI Social Characteristics 121 

XII Political and Financial Situation .... 141 

XIII Industry 154 

XIV Commerce 168 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAP. PAGE 

XV Teanspoetation 179 

XVI Education 192 

XVII Public Charity and Social Service . . . 204 

XVIII Science 208 

XIX Journalism 215 

XX Literature 227 

XXI Fine Arts 241 

Appendix: Area and Population 251 

Suggestions to Readers 252 

Index 253 

Map . Facing 8 




ll 








The Republics 

OF 

Latin A:merica 




^ c:^; /„ 5 !>»«'' S .-^ ^ 

OCEAN ^^^"'''vV \S5K^ 



LATIN AMERICA 

PART I 
THE COLONIES 

CHAPTER I 

THE EXPANSION OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 

The largest of the islands seen by Colum- 
bus in his first voyage was known to its na- 
tive inhabitants as "Haiti." This name he 
changed forthwith to "Espanola," or Hispa- 
niola, abbreviated from "Tierra espafiola" or 
" Spanish Land." Here Columbus proceeded 
to establish a town called "Navidad" (Christ- 
mas), which was destroyed by the natives 
soon after he returned to Spain. The first per- 
manent European settlement was not founded 
until 1496. This was the city of Santo Dom- 
ingo, a name that was often applied later to 
the entire island, and to the eastern and west- 
ern divisions of it, separately, as well. 

The voyages of Columbus and of the men 
who followed in his wake under the banners 
of Spain and Portugal, between 1493 and 
1503, led to the discovery, not only of the 
islands of the West Indies, but of the At- 
lantic mainland of North and South America, 
9 



10 LATIN AMERICA 

all the way from what is now Honduras to 
Uruguay. In this course of action Portugal 
had relatively little share. An agreement 
between the two Iberian powers, in 1494, 
had provided for a "demarcation line," 
running from pole to pole and extending 
370 leagues west of the Azores Islands. 
The Spanish area of activity was to lie to 
the westward and the Portuguese to the 
eastward of this line. It happened, how- 
ever, that, in 1500, a Portuguese expedi- 
tion bound for India went so far out of its 
course that it reached the northeastern coast 
of South America. This fact, added to the 
rights conferred by the "demarcation line" 
which, though never actually run, un- 
doubtedly would have cut through the 
eastern part of the southern continent, gave 
Portugal its claim to the present Brazil. 
But as Portugal was absorbed at the time in 
the development of its trade with India and 
the regions beyond, the immediate work of col- 
onization in the New World was left to Spain. 
So far as the West Indies were concerned, 
Spain confined its area of occupation to the 
four large islands. Expeditions from His- 
paniola took possession of Porto Rico in 
1508, of Jamaica in 1509 and of Cuba in 
1511. As time went on Cuba became the 
most important of them all. A fertile soil 
gave it commercial value, and its location 



EXPANSION, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 11 

made it strategically the key to the Gulf of 
Mexico. Certain points, also, along the 
coast of what is now Venezuela were occu- 
pied from Hispaniola between 1523 and 
1527. Twenty years later, after a futile at- 
tempt at colonization by a German bank- 
ing-house, the Welser of Augsburg, to whom 
the region had been assigned as a fief, it 
became definitely a Spanish province. 

Though settlements had been made on 
the Caribbean coast of southern Central 
America as early as 1509, it was not until 
after Balboa had discovered the Pacific 
Ocean that active interest began to be 
shown in its development. In 1519 the seat 
of government was shifted across the isthmus 
to Panama. From this point expeditions were 
despatched to the northward, which laid the 
foundations of Spanish power in the present 
Costa Rica (1523) and Nicaragua (1525). 

Towns began to spring up, also, along the 
Caribbean shore of what is now Colombia. 
From one of these an expedition, sent out 
in 1536, effected within two years the con- 
quest of a large part of the interior. 

Meanwhile the Spanish arms had won 
laurels far more brilliant. As a result of 
explorations from Cuba, in 1517 and 1518, 
news was brought of the wondrous civiliza- 
tion of the state ruled by a native people 
known as "Aztecs," on the plateau of 



n LATIN AMERICA 

Anahuac in the central portion of the pres- 
ent Mexico. Forthwith all available re- 
sources were called into play to equip a for- 
midable array of fighting men who should 
win this realm for Spain. Under the leader- 
ship of a young soldier of fortune, named 
Hernando Cortes, a struggle began, in 1519, 
which ended two years later in the complete 
subjugation of the Aztecs and their con- 
federates. The course of conquest was then 
carried southward into what are now Guate- 
mala, Salvador and Nicaragua. By 1525 
all three of these areas had become more or 
less subject to Spanish control. 

Rumors borne to Panama of a southern 
dominion called "Birti" (Peru), the wealth 
and splendor of which, under the sway of 
the "Incas," were said to resemble those of 
Aztec Mexico, stirred Francisco Pizarro, a 
former comrade of Balboa, to emulate the 
achievements of Cortes. In 1531 he suc- 
ceeded in gathering the necessary force, and 
by the end of the following year had gained 
possession of the coveted region. From 
Peru as a center his lieutenants widened the 
Spanish domain northward, eastward and 
southward, by the issue of their campaigns 
in the present Ecuador (1533), Bolivia 
(1538) and Chile (1540). 

About the same time a futile effort to 
rival the feat of Pizarro was made in the 



EXPANSION, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 13 

lands to the southeast of his general zone of 
conquest. Its net result was the planting 
of a Spanish settlement in what is now Para- 
guay (1536) . Seventeen years later the defini- 
tive colonization of the present Argentine 
Republic was begun in the northwest by an 
expedition from Chile, and, in 1580, along the 
River Plate (La Plata), by one from Spain. 
By the middle of the sixteenth century 
the work of the Spanish "conquistadores" 
(conquerors) had been substantially accom- 
plished. Their motives, and those of the 
men in general who entered upon the earlier 
exploration, conquest and colonization of 
the New World, may be summed up in the 
three words "gospel, glory and gold." Provi- 
dence, it would seem, had bestowed upon 
Spain a huge dominion overflowing with a 
wealth beyond the wildest dreams, abound- 
ing in the possibilities of exploits that would 
bring fame to the adventurous as well as 
grandeur to their country, and teeming with 
heathen peoples to be converted to the true 
faith and given the blessings of civilization. 
Romance and reality stirred the soul of the 
Spaniards to deeds of strength and valor 
almost unparalleled in the annals of man- 
kind. Forcing their impetuous way through 
tropical swamp and forest, up mighty moun- 
tain ranges, and across trackless plains, bat- 
tling at every step with savage nature and still 



14 LATIN AMERICA 

more savage man, and marring many an act of 
heroism by shameful scenes of blood, they cre- 
ated for Spain an empire greater in extent 
than any that the world had ever known. 

Despite all its glamor, what the process of 
conquest really did was to secure certain 
strategic points of vantage, which might 
serve as foundations for the colonial Spanish 
America yet to be constructed. It is an 
error to suppose that what happened before 
1550 was generally true of the centuries to 
follow. On the contrary, with very rare 
exceptions, the course of colonial expansion 
during the far longer period took the form 
of setting up an orderly system of life, 
whereby the relations of conquerors and 
conquered might be effectively adjusted. 
Evolution along these lines, ' and not a ro- 
mantic career of military adventure, explains 
how Spain consolidated a dominion that 
lasted upwards of three hundred years and 
left a heritage of eighteen republics. 

Although a few Portuguese convicts had 
early been banished to the region of Brazil, 
nothing like permanent occupation was es- 
sayed there until after a number of French 
settlers had located themselves along the 
northeastern coast. In 1530, accordingly, 
an expedition was organized under the com- 
mand of Martim Affonso de Souza, an ex- 
perienced navigator, to take formal posses- 



EXPANSION, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 15 

sion of the land in the name of Portugal 
and drive out the intruders. He reached 
the shores of Brazil early in the following 
year, but did not fix upon the site for a 
colony until 1532. The spot chosen was in 
the southern part of the country in what is 
now the State of Sao Paulo. 

About this time the coast of Brazil was 
partitioned into twelve feudal "captaincies." 
The purpose of the arrangement was to 
awaken interest in a land that offered, as 
yet, no evidence that it contained any such 
wealth in precious metals as had fallen else- 
where in America to the fortunate lot of the 
Spaniards. In only six of the grants were 
permanent settlements erected. All of them 
lay within the present States of Sao Paulo, 
Espirito Santo, Bahia and Pernambuco, and 
constituted the chief centers from which the 
areas of colonization in Brazil were succes- 
sively widened. Because of this location of 
the settlements more or less independently at 
various points along the coast, life in the Port- 
uguese colony never became so concentrated 
in the capital city, as was commonly the case 
in Spanish America. Nor did the processes 
of occupation extend so far into the interior: 
the size of the country forbade it. 

Among the Portuguese founders of Brazil 
there were no empire-builders actually com- 
parable with the Spanish " conquistador es." 



16 LATIN AMEMCA 

The same incentives did not exist. Por- 
tugal itself was inferior to Spain in size and 
strength. Its characteristics and traditions 
were less intense and less imperialistic. 
Whatever energies it possessed found their 
fields of application mainly in the East Indies, 
No native states, furthermore, of relatively 
high civilization, like those of the Aztecs and 
the Incas, with their corresponding riches, 
existed anywhere in its American domain. 

The nearest approach to the "conquista- 
dores" was furnished by the "Paulistas," 
largely a racial blend of Portuguese and In- 
dian found within the area of Sao Paulo. 
They were the real pioneers of Brazil. Fol- 
lowing the "bandeira," or banner, of a 
chosen chieftain, and hence known as "ban- 
deirantes," they fought their way into the 
interior, in a search for Indian slaves and 
the precious metals. On a much smaller 
scale, but none the less effectively, their 
traits and achievements bore a marked re- 
semblance to those of their Spanish compeers. 

In 1581 all the European colonies in the 
world became possessions of the crown of 
Spain, and a situation arose that never had 
existed before, and has never been known 
since. Master both on land and sea, Philip 
II of Spain and Portugal was a monarch 
whose power apparently had no bounds. 
Of those days it could well be said that, 



EXPANSION, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL 17 

"when Spain moved, the world trembled.'* 
Yet his empire was too huge, too loosely- 
constructed, too lacking in essential strength, 
to remain long intact. While it is true that 
Portugal continued subject to a Spanish 
ruler until 1641, the dissolution of the Por- 
tuguese dominions began early in the same 
century. Not content with assailing and 
appropriating many of its possessions in the 
Far East, the Dutch turned their attention 
to Brazil. From 1630 until 1654 they held 
a large part of the northeastern section of 
the country, and did not yield their pre- 
tensions to it until 1661. 

Now that Portugal had recovered its in- 
dependence of Spain and expelled the Dutch 
invaders, it proceeded to advance its do- 
minion in Brazil considerably to the south- 
westward. Both Spain and Portugal claimed 
the area between Sao Paulo and the River 
Plate, as a consequence of the arrangements 
made in connection with the "line of de- 
marcation." In 1680 the Portuguese founded 
on that river the first settlement within the 
limits of the present Uruguay. It became a 
source of constant strife and irritation be- 
tween the two powers. The Paulistas, also, 
clashed with certain Spanish Jesuits of 
Paraguay, who were seeking to connect 
their mission settlements eastward with the 
ocean. 



18 LATIN AMERICA 

Still another cause of discord was 
furnished, in 1723, when the Portuguese 
strengthened their grasp upon the River 
Plate by establishing an additional post in 
Uruguay, just at the entrance to the river. 
Three years later the post was seized and 
thereafter retained by Spain. Not until 
1777 was an agreement finally reached, in 
accordance with which the region of Uru- 
guay was recognized as belonging to Spain, 
and the land to the eastward of the Spanish 
possessions in general, as the rightful terri- 
tory of Portugal. 

A domain so vast and so rich as that held 
by Spain in the New World naturally be- 
came an object of envy to many a European 
rival. Until well into the eighteenth cen- 
tury, pirates, buccaneers and smugglers, 
English, Dutch and French, swarmed along 
the coasts, pillaging and destroying vessels 
and towns. Repeated efforts were made, 
particularly by the EngHsh on the Carib- 
bean side of Central America, to gain a 
foothold on the lands of the imperious 
Spaniard, whose weakness at home seemed 
to render his colonies fit objects of spoil. 
Yet the huge mass remained almost intact, 
and even became larger still. 

By 1786 the Spanish dominions may fairly 
be said to have reached their widest bounds. 
Eastward the scattering settlements stretched 



GOVERNMENT 19 

to Porto E,ico, westward to the present 
State of California, northward to what is 
now the State of Missouri, and southward 
to Chile. In the West Indies, out of the four 
large islands only Jamaica, in 1655, had 
been lost to England and, in 1697, western 
Hispaniola (Saint Domingue), to France. 
On the continents, what are now Florida, 
southern Alabama and Mississippi, all of 
the area of the United States, also, west of 
the Mississippi River, together with Mexico, 
Central America and South America entire, 
except the Guianas and Brazil, acknowledged 
the sway of Spain. And even so late as 
1810, Spain had lost no more than the re- 
mainder of Hispaniola, ceded to France in 
1795, the island of Trinidad and a part of 
the present British Honduras, seized by 
England in 1797 and 1798, respectively, 
and the province of Louisiana, granted to 
France in 1802. Such was the extent of the 
Spanish empire in America. 



CHAPTER II 

GOVERNMENT 

At the time that Spain and Portugal 
started on their careers of expansion, "na- 
tional consciousness," the idea of a state 
resting on the personal rights and duties of 



go LATIN AMERICA 

its citizens, was virtually unknown. To 
the Spaniard, for example, his village, town 
or province was his country. What lay be- 
yond local bounds was something to be reg- 
ulated by officials in whose appointment, 
presumably, he had no choice. An absolute 
monarchy and an absolute church, that 
would safeguard the individual against a 
foreign foe or an alien faith, were all that 
could be desired in larger concerns. Ac- 
cordingly, whether he lived in his native 
land or in a distant colony, he was more or 
less content, so long as his local privileges 
were undisturbed. The spirit of individ- 
ualism was strong, but its manifestation 
worked within narrow lines. On this founda- 
tion Spain, and to a great extent, Portugal, 
based their respective systems of colonial 
administration. 

Since the dominions of Spain in America, 
known collectively as "The Indies," had 
been discovered and occupied under the 
auspices of the kingdom of Castile, the gov- 
ernment devised for them was modeled, so 
far as circfumstances might allow, upon the 
institutions of that realm. Made elaborate 
and comprehensive to deal with the intri- 
cate problems involved, it often displayed 
a degree of precision, uniformity and even 
rigidity, which suggested a Roman inherit- 
ance. On the other hand, following equally 



GOVERNMENT 21 

the Roman principle of "divide and rule," 
powers, duties and privileges were rather 
vaguely defined, with the result that ojQ5- 
cials, classes and individuals were set off 
deftly against one another. 

No colonial authority was permitted to 
grow too strong, and no colonial counter- 
poise to become too weak, to serve the in- 
terests of the mother country. Every per- 
son, whatever his rank or station, and every 
governing body enjoyed the privilege of 
communicating directly with the govern- 
ment in Spain, and the exercise of the privi- 
lege was constantly encouraged. By this 
means temptation to arbitrary conduct 
could be restrained, no less than expres- 
sions of dissatisfaction checked or mollified, 
which otherwise might bring on revolt. 
Where abuses existed, they were apt to take 
the form of pecuniary corruption, rather 
than of wilful misrule. 

As a piece of machinery the Spanish ad- 
ministration certainly surpassed anything 
of the sort constructed by the colonial 
powers of the time. It was well suited, not 
only to the Spanish temperament, training 
and traditions, but to the special purposes 
of Spanish domination in the New World. 
Yet it was not, and could not be, efficacious. 
The resources of Spain were too inadequate, 
the conditions under which the processes 



22 LATIN AMERICA 

of occupation were carried on too unfavor- 
able, the regions concerned too vast and 
too distant, the means of communication 
too defective, and the difficulties of creat- 
ing a new society out of a fusion of some 
thousands of Europeans with millions of 
aborigines too profound. 

The tasks accordingly imposed upon the 
officials in the home country and in the 
colonies were too complex to insure satis- 
factory results. No matter how well in- 
tentioned the laws may have been, the 
actual course of administration was neces- 
sarily slow and cumbersome, even if not 
altogether oppressive. Official activities on 
either side of the ocean were only too often 
shackled by red tape and routine, or else 
smothered under mountains of documents. 

During the first few years matters relat- 
ing to discovery, exploration and coloniza- 
tion were determined in accordance with 
special agreements, called "asientos" and 
"capitulaciones," between the crown and 
the persons interested in any particular 
venture. For the enforcement of the terms 
of these instruments, a commissioner resi- 
dent in Spain was provided. Later, as the 
course of settlement advanced beyond His- 
paniola to the neighboring islands and thence 
to the mainland, it became necessary to 
create a more elaborate agency of control. 



GOVERNMENT <g) 

This was furnished by the "Royal and Su- 
preme Council of the Indies." 

As finally constituted, in 1542, the Council 
had charge of all branches of the colonial 
administration. Its members were ap- 
pointed by the crown, preferably from among 
officials who had seen service in America. 
Not only was its authority complete in ad- 
ministrative concerns proper, but it was a 
general legislature for the colonies, and a 
tribunal of appeal as well from the highest 
colonial courts. In every respect its decrees 
and judgments had the force of law. Even 
the colonial born, when living in the mother 
country, were subject to its jurisdiction. - 
In the eighteenth century, however, a Min- 
ister of the Indies was appointed, who took 
over many of the important duties of the 
Council, and acted as a medium of commu- 
nication between it and the crown. The re- 
sult was to leave to the Council ultimately 
the performance of routine duties, although 
its judicial functions remained intact. 

From time to time the Council of the In- 
dies sent over special commissioners called 
*'visitadores," whose business it was to in- 
spect all branches of the colonial service^ 
and to present reports on what they found. 
Some of these men did good work. In other 
cases the people ** visited" were inclined to 
look for the departure of the CQ^^^issio^el: 



24 LATIN AMERICA 

rather more anxiously than they had awaited 
his arrival. 

The mechanism of the administration was 
eventually regulated by a code of decrees 
and ordinances, commonly referred to as 
the "Laws of the Indies" (1680). Dealing 
at length with the duties, rights and responsi- 
bilities of the officials and of the colonial in- 
habitants, the regulations descended into 
so minute a detail as to provide even for 
dog-chasers to drive stray canines out of 
the churches. Heterogeneous in arrange- 
ment, dubious in phraseology and not always 
in accord with modern ideas of justice, the 
"Laws of the Indies," nevertheless, dis- 
played a spirit of humanity, a regard for 
the welfare of Spanish subjects in America 
that was quite superior to the legislation of 
other nations for their own people oversea. 
Could the provisions of the code have been 
enforced in a liberal manner, or even in many 
cases if the mere letter of the laws had been 
carried out, the colonial system of Spain 
would have worked harmoniously and bene- 
ficently for all concerned. 

In the colonies themselves the extensive 
powers granted at the outset to Columbus 
were soon replaced by the authority of local 
governors and later, of boards of magis- 
trates appointed to act in conjunction with 
them. Not until after the conquest of Peru 



GOVERNMENT 25 

did the administrative system enter upon 
the complex organization that it was to have 
during the centuries that followed. 

The largest political divisions were called 
viceroyalties, of which the first to be estab- 
lished was that of New Spain (1534), with 
the capital at Mexico. It comprised event- 
ually all of the Spanish possessions in North 
America and the West Indies, including also 
the Philippine Islands. In 1542 the vice- 
royalty of Peru was erected, with the seat 
of government at Lima, and a jurisdiction 
stretching over substantially all of the Span- 
ish dominions in South America. Later, in 
order to offset more effectually the dangers 
arising from the attacks and the smuggling 
operations of foreigners, especially the Eng- 
lish, two more viceroyalties were carved out 
of it. These were New Granada (1739), 
corresponding more or less to the present 
Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, with 
the capital at Bogota, and La Plata (1776), 
approximating in extent what are now the 
Argentine Republic, Bolivia, Paraguay and 
Uruguay, and having Buenos Ayres as its 
capital. The viceroy alty of Peru thus be- 
came reduced to Peru proper and Chile. 

Each viceroyalty was divided into prov- 
inces known variously as "audiencias," 
"captaincies general" and "presidencies." 
Strictly speaking, an "audiencia" was a 



26 LATIN AMERICA 

body of magistrates, constituting at once a 
supreme court and a board of administra- 
tion for the province; but the designation 
was appKed equally to the area over which 
its jurisdiction extended. If the area of an 
"audiencia" had a civil and military officer 
called a "governor and captain general" at 
its head, who acted also as president of the 
board in its administrative capacity and 
shared in its functions, such an area bore the 
name of a "captaincy general," or "presi- 
dency," along with that of "audiencia." If, 
however, the board or court in question was 
presided over by a jurist, the area was then 
termed a "presidency," in a narrower sense. 

The viceroy himself, though regarded as 
the immediate representative of the crown, 
was primarily governor and captain general 
of the area of the "audiencia" in which the 
capital of the viceroyalty was located, and 
at the same time president of the board of 
that name. In his relation to the officials 
and governing bodies of high rank in the 
other provinces of the viceroyalty he was 
practically a supervisor or moderator. His 
authority over them might be large or small 
according to circumstances; but the ultimate 
responsibility in any case was supposed to 
rest on him alone. 

Within the provinces in turn lay local 
districts to which the names "gobernaciones" 



GOVERNMENT 27 

or "gobiernos," "corregimientos" and "al- 
caldias mayores" were assigned. Here the 
respective governors, "corregidores" and 
"alcaldes mayores" carried on the ordinary 
civil administration under the direction of 
the provincial authorities. Late in the 
eighteenth century, so as to assure a more 
effectual supervision of the minor officials, 
the provinces were divided into large sec- 
tions, containing several of the local dis- 
tricts in question, and known collectively as 
* * intendancies . " In them the intendants and 
their immediate subordinates, the "subdele- 
gados," were enabled to exercise the needful 
control. To these divisions of the province 
may be added the cities and towns, each gov- 
erned by its council ("ayuntamiento" or 
"cabildo"), more or less in conjunction with 
the various higher officials, and the villages, 
over which an "alcalde" held sway. 

So far as Brazil, or indeed any of its dis- 
tant possessions was concerned, Portugal 
never constructed an administrative machine 
comparable with that which was placed in 
operation by Spain. Even if it had been 
capable of doing so, its colonial interests in 
Asia, Africa and America were too diverse 
to make the construction possible. 

During the period of subjection to Spain, 
the administration of the Portuguese de- 
pendencies naturally underwent a series of 



88 LATIN AMERICA 

changes which approximated it to the in- 
stitutions and practices established in the 
Spanish dominions proper. To a consider- 
able extent these were retained after Por- 
tugal had won its independence. 

From the second half of the seventeenth 
century the direction of colonial affairs be- 
longed to several councils or boards in Lisbon, 
the functions of which were not clearly dis- 
tinguishable among themselves, or separable 
from local concerns in the mother country. 
The Council of State chose the members of 
the other councils, and appointed also the 
political officers of high rank in the provinces. 

In Brazil the first form of government set 
up was that of the feudal principalities 
called "captaincies." As originally estab- 
lished, they included grants of land along 
the coast and stretching vaguely into the 
interior. In these areas the proprietors 
(donatorios) were to exercise almost com- 
plete authority over the colonists and the 
natives alike. Sixteen years later a governor 
general was appointed with his capital at 
Bahia, thus inaugurating the system of 
what came to be known as "royal captain- 
cies," or provinces under the immediate 
jurisdiction of the crown. 

After the overthrow of Spanish rule, the 
process of replacing the proprietorships by 
royal captaincies continued until the second 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 29 

half of the eighteenth century, when the work 
was completed. From 1763 onward the office 
of viceroy was definitely established, and the 
seat of government fixed at Rio de Janeiro. 
The captains general, in charge of the 
separate provinces, frequently evinced a 
marked spirit of independence toward their 
superior. The people of the various cap- 
taincies, similarly, did not hesitate to oppose, 
whenever they could do so, any interference 
on the part of the central authority in purely 
local concerns. Given the circumstances 
under which many of the provinces had been 
originally founded, added to the lax admin- 
istration of the mother country in general, 
it is not strange that the relations among 
them should have been much closer than 
was possible in the case of the Spanish 
colonies. 

CHAPTER III 

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 

Among the numerous groups of aborigines 
in the New World the grade of civilization 
ranged from utter savagery up to a superior 
sort of barbarism. The lowest in the scale 
were nomads and cannibals. Others, like 
the virile Araucanians of Chile or the gentler 
Guaranis of Paraguay, carried on a rude 
kind of agriculture, and dwelt in more or 



so LATIN AMERICA 

less permanent communities. Some of the 
natives had even made remarkable progress 
in the institutions of an orderly life. 

To the relatively civilized class belonged 
the inhabitants of the cooler regions of the 
highlands extending from central Mexico to 
southern Peru. Typical of them were the 
loose confederation of tribes under the Aztecs 
and the mass of natives who submitted to 
the yoke of the Incas. Both had built upon 
foundations laid by peoples of a culture 
higher than their own, and of an origin alto- 
gether obscure. 

Externally at least, with its potentates, 
priests, nobles, commoners, serfs and slaves, 
the social system of the Aztecs and the Incas 
bore much resemblance to that prevailing in 
Europe at the time, or was made to appear 
so by the Spanish writers who described it. 
Elaborate forms of administration had been 
devised, class distinctions had arisen, and 
various arts and industries flourished. 

To this aboriginal element in America was 
added another from Africa. Early in the 
sixteenth century negro slaves were brought 
to the West Indies to replace the natives as 
laborers on the plantations and in the mines. 
From the islands they soon spread to the 
mainland about the Caribbean Sea. 

Whatever may be said of the conduct of 
the early adventurers, the Spanish govern- 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 31 

ment itself was very solicitous about the 
welfare of these two dependent peoples. It 
prohibited the enslavement of the Indians, 
and recognized them legally as subjects of the 
crown, though standing on a somewhat lower 
plane than those of Spanish descent. This 
was designed to protect them against exploi- 
tation and oppression, while it restrained any 
tendencies on their part to relapse into the 
ways of barbarism. The laws enjoined the offi- 
cials to take care that both the Indians and 
the negroes should be kindly treated. Had 
the enactments been consistently applied, the 
lot of the humbler folk in the colonies would 
have been much happier than it was. 

On the several bases of the native charac- 
teristics, the policy of the home government, 
the conduct of the individual colonists, and 
the conditions in general arising out of the 
contact of Europeans, Indians and Africans, 
the Spaniards erected their social organiza- 
tion in America. Intermarriage of the races 
was early established. The pioneers had 
come without their womankind. Almost 
everywhere the Spanish settlers were far 
less numerous than the natives. Considera- 
tions of temperament and climate also had 
their effect. The Europeans, accordingly, 
blended with the Indians, and to a small 
extent with the negroes, to form a new 
society. From the mixture of the white and 



32 LATIN AMERICA 

the Indian came the "mestizo," from that 
of the white and the negro, the mulatto, 
from that of the negro and the Indian, the 
"zambo," and from the crossings of these 
and their descendants, an extraordinary- 
variety of ethnic types, along with a nomen- 
clature for them that was bewildering. 

Although the physical, mental and moral 
traits of all these ancestors were reproduced 
to some degree, and although the European 
element on the whole remained dominant, 
the racial foundation in colonial Spanish 
America was not European but Indian. 
Only in the southern part of South America 
did the Spaniards keep their blood relatively 
free from contact with that of the natives. 
This was due, partly to climatic and eco- 
nomic considerations, partly to the relatively 
smaller number of the aborigines and to the 
extermination of a few of the tribes, and 
partly to the fact that the country occupied 
was large enough to make it possible for the 
two social factors to remain fairly separate. 
Regarding the precise number of the popula- 
tion in Spanish America at large, the esti- 
mates for the end of the eighteenth century 
range from 12,000,000 to 19,000,000, of 
which the percentage of whites, or of those 
who passed for whites, in any given colony 
was probably somewhere between one eighth 
and two fifths. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 33 

Of this population the bulk was found 
outside of the distinctly tropical regions. 
Except where commercial connections might 
require otherwise, the Spaniards settled in 
the upland areas. Because of the cooler 
and more healthful climate, and as a measure 
of security against attacks from European 
enemies, they erected most of their towns 
and villages on sites thousands of feet above 
the level of the sea, and well-nigh inaccessi- 
ble from the coast. 

Towns like Potosi in the silver-mining 
district of what is now Bolivia, with its 
population at one time of 160,000, Mexico, 
Guatemala, Lima, Buenos Ayres, Caracas 
and Havana were all distinguished for their 
wealth and splendor. Potosi, in particular, 
and later, Mexico, were beyond doubt the 
finest cities in the New World. 

Among the inhabitants of town and coun- 
try two main classes developed. To the 
first of these belonged the native Spaniards 
and the Creoles, i. e., whites born in America, 
and those of mixed descent who traced their 
ancestry to Spaniards and to the families of 
Indian chieftains. Below them came the 
heterogeneous mass of half castes in whom 
the percentage of Spanish blood was small, 
and the great body of the Indians and ne- 
groes. Europeans not of Spanish stock were 
exceedingly rare. For a while even Spaniards 



84 LATIN AMERICA 

other than Castilians were forbidden to go 
to America. Because of religious, economic 
and political reasons, foreigners were not 
welcome. Heretics of course could not be 
tolerated; the mineral wealth of the New 
World was too precious to share with out- 
siders, and the huge extent of the Spanish 
dominions, compared with the size and 
strength of Spain itself, made a policy of 
exclusion desirable. 

True to the traditions of the mother coun- 
try, positions in the government, the church 
and the army were eagerly sought by the 
members of the upper class. The enjoyment 
of rank and title, which would assure the 
largest social prominence with the smallest 
expenditure of effort, was the goal of ambi- 
tion. A few patents of colonial nobility were 
granted. Persons not so favored contented 
themselves with orders and decorations dis- 
pensed by the crown. The higher offices in 
state and church were usually reserved to 
native-born Spaniards, while the lower ones 
fell to the Creoles. The latter, also, con- 
stituted the majority of the planters, cattle- 
raisers, mine-owners, professional men and 
merchants. To the half castes of low degree, 
as well as to the Indians and negroes in 
general, were relegated the humbler trades 
and labor of the ruder sort. 

Among the members of the upper class 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 35 

some prided themselves on the fact that they 
came from one province or another in Spain; 
although in the long run Andalusia and the 
Basque provinces triumphed over all the 
rest in their influence on character, speech, 
dress and custom. Others gloried in their 
descent from the **conquistadores," from 
the Spanish and Indian nobility, and from 
ancestors of wealth or of high official station. 

But the great contrast that pervaded 
social relations in colonial Spanish America 
was that which existed between the native 
Spaniards and the Creoles. Nowhere was 
the line easy to draw. The Spaniards did 
not constitute the governing class wholly, 
any more than the Creoles made up the 
wealthy element alone. Yet the attitude of 
the Creoles became hostile, or at least re- 
sentful, toward the natives of the mother 
country, who were accused of insufferable 
arrogance and exclusiveness, due to the 
especial favors they received from the home 
government. 

Whatever the amount of ill-feeling that 
prevailed among them, the members of the 
ruling class were more or less equally dis- 
dainful of the plebeian multitude below. 
The former were distinctly the "gente de 
razon," or rational folk, whereas the latter, 
presumably, were the ignorant and debased. 
In their turn the lower orders were none too 



36 LATIN AMERICA 

friendly disposed toward their white supe- 
riors, and were also inclined to view with 
condescension such of their own number as 
they considered to be of inferior station. 

In this attitude of mutual resentment and 
disdain the power of the home government 
found one of its strongest supports. So 
long as the Spaniards and the Creoles could 
be kept in a state of disagreement, a judi- 
cious distribution of offices and other favors 
would suffice to hold it within bounds as a 
useful undercurrent of repulsion. Indeed, 
the humane treatment of the Indians ap- 
pears to have been more or less designed. 
Since the natives looked upon the Spanish 
government and clergy as their protectors 
against the whites, whether Spaniards or 
Creoles, they supplied a valuable counter- 
poise to any display of undue ambition from 
that quarter. All of this constituted the 
social phase of the policy of "divide and 
rule"; but it never operated to the point of 
causing the social divisions to become alto- 
gether sharp and irreconcilable. 
I Much of what has been said so far of 
Spanish America applies to Brazil under 
the Portuguese dominion. The Indian ele- 
ment was less numerous, and on the whole 
inferior to that found elsewhere in the New 
World. Despite the raids of the Paulistas, 
attempts at the enslavement of the abori- 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 37 

gines were not altogether successful. Many 
of the natives lived far from the coast, they 
could escape quite readily into the jungles 
of the interior, and they were unfitted to 
supply the kind of labor demanded. Though 
enjoying considerable protection from the 
clergy, they were neglected by the home 
government, which made no serious effort 
to prohibit their enslavement till the middle 
of the eighteenth century. 

The negro slave population, on the other 
hand, especially along the eastern coast of 
Brazil, was relatively larger than in Spanish 
America. From the time of their first im- 
portation, in 1563, the hot, moist climate of 
the lowlands and the life on the great planta- 
tions proved to be well suited to the blacks. 
Though often treated cruelly by their mas- 
ters, they throve abundantly. 

Like the Spaniards, the Portuguese colon- 
ists freely mingled their blood with that of 
the Indians and Africans, constituting a 
mixed society in which the fusion was more 
complete and the differentiation, on account 
of race and color, less noticeable than in 
Spanish America. In the fairly temperate 
regions of the south, where the aborigines 
were of a strong stock, the white settlers 
amalgamated with them to form the vigor- 
ous, enterprising and aggressive "mame- 
lucos" among the Paulistas. The activities 



S8 LATIN AMERICA 

of these southerners, in fact, contributed as 
efficaciously to their domination over the 
affairs of the colony at large, as they did to 
the maintenance of Portuguese control in 
the southwestern portion of it against the 
pretensions of Spain. Here and elsewhere 
in the settled areas of Brazil, toward the 
close of the eighteenth century, there were 
altogether about 3,000,000 inhabitants, white, 
half caste, Indian and negro. 

Antagonism between Creoles and the native 
Portuguese in Brazil had much the same rea- 
sons for existence as in Spanish America, but 
the economic motive was stronger. The 
Paulistas resented the Portuguese competi- 
tion in the mining regions, and the Creole 
sugar-planters in the northeast disliked the 
merchants from the mother country on ac- 
count of their trade methods. In both cases 
armed conflict ensued. That it was decided 
in favor of the Portuguese, certainly did not 
improve the temper of the Creoles. 

CHAPTER IV 

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 

Except in Peru and the adjacent regions 
under the rule of the Incas, where the llama 
had been trained to carry loads, there were 
no domestic animals known to the Indians. 
Among the more advanced communities 



ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 39 

human beings, especially captives taken in 
war and converted into slaves, served as the 
beasts of burden. 

With all due allowance for the exaggera- 
tion of early Spanish writers on the subject, 
and for the relative scarcity of archeological 
remains, there is reason to believe that in 
the comnypiities of that sort material civ- 
ilization Sm made considerable headway. 
From metals, stone, clay, wood, and cotton 
and other textile substances the natives 
fashioned many articles of utility, and even 
of luxury. They built dikes, causeways, 
aqueducts, roads and bridges. Out of 
wrought stone they constructed huge tem- 
ples, pyramids, fortresses and palaces.. 

The idea prevalent among the Spaniards, 
that labor was more or less dishonorable, 
and the fact that their number was so small 
in comparison with the multitude of aborig- 
ines, made it imperative that they should 
use the Indians to develop the wealth of the 
New World. Unless the native inhabitants 
were employed to that end, the process of 
colonization could not go on. They had to 
be forced to work, and the disposition to 
make them do so became all the more marked 
after the Spaniards had found out that the 
relatively civilized groups of Indians on the 
continents were thoroughly familiar with 
systematic forms of labor. To hold the 



40 LATIN AMERICA 

people of this class in some kind of servi- 
tude was simply to continue a practice that 
had long since existed. 

Though opposing such treatment at first, 
the Spanish government later allowed it to 
be applied in the case of Indians who might 
resist the establishment of Spanish rule, but 
then only as a means of insuring their con- 
version to Christianity and their advance- 
ment in civilization. Three plans of action 
were soon adopted to make the natives 
work without legally enslaving them. One, 
called the "repartimiento," consisted in the 
official distribution, at various points where 
their services might be required, of batches 
of Indians under the direction of foremen of 
their own race. Since this arrangement im- 
plied no personal obligation to promote the 
welfare of the aborigines, another device 
was put into effect. Under the name "en- 
comienda," it took the form of officially 
assigning a given number of natives to a 
particular colonist, who was charged with 
the duty of instructing them in the Catholic 
faith. Also, in order to protect them against 
exploitation in mines and elsewhere, the 
"mita," or shift, was introduced, according 
to which gangs of laborers were to work for 
a certain period of time. 

For the Indians subjected to any of these 
arrangements, and for those who worked 



ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 41 

independently of them, elaborate safeguards 
were provided by law against the perform- 
ance of service under conditions injurious 
to health and morals, regulating the nature 
and extent of the tasks imposed, and as- 
suring to the natives fair treatment in gen- 
eral. Furthermore, just as the unfitness of 
the inhabitants of the West Indies for sus- 
tained effort made the employment of negro 
slaves advisable, so the abuses committed 
by many of the holders of " encomiendas," 
and the frauds perpetrated by unscrupulous 
traders, early suggested the appointment of 
the local governors to check them. 

Instead of complying with their duties, 
the district officials often used their power 
for self-enrichment. Some of the evils were 
corrected eventually through the establish- 
ment of the intendancies. 

Although the Spanish government de- 
sired that the colonists should be self-sup- 
porting, and hence required that they should 
take with them seeds, domestic animals, 
farm implements and the like, the early ad- 
venturers preferred to gain their livelihood 
in easier fashion. Constantly searching for 
gold, silver and precious stones, they plun- 
dered the Indians, sacked the burial mounds, 
stripped the shrines of their ornaments and 
compelled the natives to dig in the mines. 

Gradually, with the introduction of a 



42 LATIN AMERICA 

more orderly life, the bulk of the Spanish 
settlers became planters and herdsmen. In 
addition to the grains, fruits and vegetables 
brought from Europe, they cultivated nu- 
merous products of the New World itself, 
with which the Indians were already familiar. 
Among them were alfalfa, tobacco, Paraguay 
tea, maize, potatoes, tomatoes and cacao — 
the last named especially on the "chocola- 
tales" of Mexico, and of what are now 
Bolivia and Venezuela. 

Mining was the most lucrative industry. 
Its development caused Mexico, Peru, and 
the present Bolivia and Colombia to become 
the treasure-houses of the world. 

How much wealth in the precious metals, 
particularly of silver, was actually drawn 
from the mines in the Spanish dominions, 
no one knows; but the amount was certainly 
enormous. Estimates for the entire colonial 
period are merely guesswork. Whatever the 
quantity, it fell off considerably in the eigh- 
teenth century. At that time it may have 
averaged in value about $36,000,000 a year. 

Viewed from the standpoint of the other 
forms of industry, manufacturing made but 
little progress. Conditions were altogether 
primitive in most cases, and besides, the 
Spanish government disapproved of activi- 
ties of that sort, as it did also of the cultiva- 
tion of the vine and the olive. Not only 



ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 43 

were they apt to compete with the scanty 
home production, but they interfered with 
the collection of export duties on commodi- 
ties brought from other European countries 
for shipment to America. 

For the Spanish crown the "remesas de 
Indias," or consignments from America, 
were an important source of income. On the 
output of precious metals and stones the 
government levied a duty of from ten to 
twenty per cent, and a smaller one on that 
of metals of the baser sort. These imposts, 
and the proceeds from excise taxes, such as 
the "alcabala," which was placed on ordi- 
nary business transactions, from import and 
export duties, and from royal monopolies 
and special fees, constituted the public rev- 
enue. In the latter part of the eighteenth 
century the receipts amounted to about 
$90,000,000 a year, of which sum, on an 
average, rather more than four-fifths went 
to meet the expenses of colonial administra- 
tion. Most of the separate colonies, in fact, 
were supported by annual subsidies (situa- 
dos) furnished by the mining centers. 

In 1503 there had been established at Se- 
ville, then the most important seaport of 
southern Spain, an official institution called 
the "House of Trade" (Casa de Contrata- 
cion). Fully organized some forty years 
later, it became the medium of communica- 



44 LATIN AMERICA 

tion between the mother country and the 
colonies in everything that had to do with 
commerce. It was at once a maritime ex- 
change, a bureau of navigation and a high 
court of admiralty. While in general subor- 
dinate to the Counsel or Minister of the 
Indies, the officials who constituted the 
several administrative and judicial boards 
could deal also with the crown directly. 

For the protection of Spanish shipping 
against attack while en route to or from 
America, and for the prevention of smug- 
gling, in 1561 the fleet system was put into 
operation. Thereafter, unless special per- 
mission to the contrary were granted, the 
vessels could sail but once a year each way, 
and they had to go in two groups under 
armed convoy. Foreign ships, of course, were 
shut out of the traffic. Even intercolonial 
trade, except in conjunction with the arrival 
of the fleets, was forbidden. 

The "flota," or northern division, bound 
for Vera Cruz, carried a cargo consigned to 
various points in Spanish North America, and 
received there the colonial goods intended for 
Europe. Merchandise for any part of Span- 
ish South America was sent in the " galeones " 
(galleons), or southern fleet, to Porto Bello, 
on the Isthmus of Panama. Here the bulk of 
the cargo was landed, and the commodities 
destined for Europe were taken on board. 



ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 45 

Both were distributed at a species of fair 
which attracted great numbers of people, 
in spite of the unhealthfulness of a locality 
that became known as "the Spaniards' bury- 
ing-ground." 

All these measures of precaution did 
not, and could not, succeed. The huge 
Spanish vessels, half freighters and half 
men-of-war, were unable to defend them- 
selves advantageously against the light 
and speedy craft of the sea rovers, lawful 
and piratical, of England, the Netherlands 
and France, who regarded the treasures 
of the New World as their rightful spoil. 
Nor were the Spanish revenue cutters 
(guardacostas) adequate to cope with smug- 
glers, foreign and native. The smaller num- 
ber of vessels in the fleets, their infrequent 
sailings, the convoy charges (averia) and 
other expenses connected with transporta- 
tion, and the scarcity of colonial ports of call, 
furthermore, made the cost of European goods 
very high. Particularly was this true of arti- 
cles intended for points remote from such 
ports, and which might have to be carried 
overland. 

Under the circumstances it is not surpris- 
ing that the colonists should have practiced 
an art well known in the mother country. 
More or less with the connivance of the 
local officials, who were not always averse to 



46 LATIN AMERICA 

gratifications for silence, they bought what- 
ever they needed from obliging foreigners, 
like the English and the Dutch, who were 
easily able to undersell the factors of the 
fleets. After the English had secured, in 1713, 
the right to send a heavily laden ship yearly 
to the fair at Porto Bello, and by the so- 
called "asiento," the monopoly of supplying 
Spanish America with negro slaves, the pro- 
cess of smuggling became more prevalent 
than ever. So ingenious were the devices 
employed by the English, and so apt their 
Spanish disciples in the colonies, that the 
Minister of the Indies felt constrained to in- 
voke the aid of the clergy against the evil. 

By the middle of the eighteenth century 
the Spanish government became convinced 
that the organization of colonial commerce 
would have to be reformed. Accordingly, in 
1748, the fleet system, as such, was practi- 
cally abandoned. For it were substituted 
*' register ships" of a lighter, faster and 
more seaworthy type than the galleons, and 
sailing at frequent intervals. Later, in re- 
sponse to constant appeals and remon- 
strances from the colonies, various ports in 
Spain and Spanish America were opened to 
trade. Intercolonial traffic, also, was al- 
lowed, extending even to Portuguese Brazil. 

Despite these improvements, communi- 
cation between the mother country and the 



ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 47 

colonies remained slow. In the days of the 
galleons, seventeen months were sometimes 
required for a royal edict to reach Lima. 
Nor was transit between one point in the col- 
onies and another at all rapid. The distances 
were often tremendous, and the roads little 
more than rough trails. Goods carried on 
pack animals, on the backs of natives or in 
rude ox-carts took an interminably long time 
in which to reach their destination. 

In Brazil, particularly in the northeastern 
section of the colony, agriculture and stock- 
raising made considerable progress. Sugar- 
cane, tobacco and cotton were cultivated, and 
to a much smaller extent, rice and other food 
products. Coffee was not introduced until 
1760. The cutting of the valuable dyestuff 
called "Brazil wood," and the gathering of 
Brazil nuts were also carried on. 

Because of the relatively late discovery 
of precious metals and stones, mainly be- 
tween 1680 and 1730, mining could not be 
reckoned among the chief industries of Bra- 
zil before the first half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. In the southern portion of the colony, 
especially in what is now the State of Minas 
Geraes (literally, "General Mines"), the out- 
put of gold and diamonds for several decades 
was very large. 

Apart from industries arising directly out 
of the production of rum and other deriva- 



48 LATIN AMERICA 

tives from sugar-cane, manufacturing made 
less headway in Brazil than in Spanish Amer- 
ica. The cane, sugar and rum were brought 
to the seaports authorized for the purpose, 
and there shipped to Portugal in exchange for 
flour, cloth, wines and the like. 

After the mines were opened, the revenues 
of the mother country enjoyed a considerable 
increase. On the output of the precious met- 
als and stones a twenty per cent tax (quinto) 
was levied, yielding annually on an average 
about $2,500,000. From this source and 
others the revenue secured in the eighteenth 
century may have been worth upwards of 
$10,000,000 a year. Except that duties and 
excises, as a rule, were higher than in Span- 
ish America, the system of taxation in Brazil 
was much the same. 

For the benefit of some interests, and 
since the early part of the eighteenth century, 
for the advantage of English merchants who 
had gained control of Portuguese trade, the 
government of the mother country laid a va- 
riety of restrictions on colonial commerce and 
industry. From the outset it had made the 
traffic in Brazil wood a royal monopoly. It 
granted to individuals and corporations, Por- 
tuguese and foreign, exclusive rights of hand- 
ling certain commodities, and forbade trade 
between the northern and the southern 
provinces of Brazil. Furthermore, it dis- 



THE CHURCH 49 

couraged the local distillation of rum, and 
eventually prohibited all weaving industries, 
except those connected with the production 
of coarse cotton goods. 

Nothing so efficient as the Spanish "House 
of Trade" was ever devised in Portugal, 
though colonial commerce was limited to 
Lisbon and Oporto, in the mother country, 
and to a few ports in Brazil. The fleet sys- 
tem, also, was in vogue for a time but the 
privileges enjoyed by private agencies made 
it of little importance, except perhaps as a 
me^^ns of protection. 

During the eighteenth century Saint Do- 
?ningue, the French part of the island of 
Hispaniola, became a flourishing domain. 
Toiling under their white taskmasters, an 
ever increasing multitude of negro slaves 
supplied Europe with a great part of its 
sugar, cotton, tobacco and indigo. A pros- 
perity reckoned in hundreds of millions of 
francs made of Saint Domingue one of the 
most valuable colonies of the time in the 
New World. 

CHAPTER V 

THE CHURCH 

No monarch of the time was deemed to be 
so Catholic as his majesty of Spain, and none 
enjoyed in his dominions oversea so great an 



50 LATIN AMERICA 

amount of ecclesiastical power. By vari- 
ous papal grants within twenty years after 
the discovery of America, the Spanish crown 
was given substantially complete jurisdic- 
tion there over the organization and activi- 
ties of the Church. In exercise of the "royal 
patronage" (real patronato), it controlled ap- 
pointments to benefices and other holdings, 
regulated the conduct of the clergy, and dis- 
posed of ecclesiastical property and revenues. 

The Church, in fact, was the greatest in- 
strument of authority which the crown pos- 
sessed in the colonies. Just as it had per- 
petuated in Europe the traditions of Rome, 
so in the New World it perpetuated those of 
Spain. Rather than secular agencies of any 
sort, it was the clergy who adjusted the rela- 
tionship between the whites and the Indians, 
who inculcated loyalty to the Spanish throne, 
and contributed in general to the mainte- 
nance and extension of Spanish rule. 

In order to prosecute the work of the 
Church more effectually, the Inquisition was 
set up, in 1569. Thereafter confining its 
attention exclusively to the European ele- 
ment in the population, that dread tribunal 
punished heretical Spaniards and foreigners 
like sailors, smugglers and pirates, who might 
have the misfortune to fall into its clutches. 
But, except for its censorship of thought, the 
activities of the Inquisition in America were 



THE CHURCH 51 

much less pernicious than has been commonly 
supposed. 

So great were the wealth and influence of 
the Church that it became customary to es- 
timate the importance of a given locality by 
the number of its ecclesiastical buildings. 
Many of the edifices, of course, were used as 
hospitals and asylums, and for charitable and 
educational purposes in general, under the 
direct control of the Church, or of benevolent 
societies organized by it. 

As a rule the members of the higher clergy 
were men of character and ability. Theirs 
was no slight task to advance the cause of the 
Church as the great moral guide of society, to 
correct misbehavior on the part of officials, 
civil and ecclesiastical, and to protect the 
natives against oppression, without encour- 
aging them to resist the enforcement of Span- 
ish authority or incurring the ill will of the 
colonists. In this respect their conduct 
furnished another example of the astute 
policy of the home government in keeping 
the colonial forces balanced. 

Among those who belonged to the lower 
clergy were, the priests (curas), the cate- 
chists (doctrineros) and the missionaries 
(misioneros) . The "curas " ministered to the 
religious needs of places inhabited chiefly by 
Spaniards and Creoles. The "doctrineros" 
and "misioneros" were monks, usually of the 



5^ LATIN AMERICA 

Jesuit, Franciscan or Dominican order. Of 
these two classes the former taught the cate- 
chism and performed other religious duties 
among the communities of converted Indians, 
while the latter labored for the spread of the 
faith among the heathen. 

The missionaries were true pioneers, and 
their zealous activities contributed in large 
measure to the widening of the area of Span- 
ish control. After they had induced a suffi- 
cient number of natives in a certain locality to 
enter upon a civilized life, according to the reli- 
gious standards of the time, and had been duly 
replaced by the " doctrineros, " they struck 
out still farther into the wilderness. Then, 
with the arrival of white colonists, the aspect 
of the settlement changed, and the former 
Indian community became a Spanish village. 

Many of the lower clergy, and in particular 
the missionaries, were intense in their devo- 
tion to the faith, enduring disease, privation, 
violence and death, and counting it a singular 
joy to win the martyr's crown. On the other 
hand, the deficiency in vigor, morality and 
intelligence, which too often characterized 
the remaining members of their class, was 
assuredly not remedied by an intimate asso- 
ciation with barbarism, whatever its degree. 

Among the more advanced groups of na- 
tives, a polytheistic type of religion had 
reached an elaborate stage of development. 



THE CHUECH 53 

Under the direction of a priestly caste, benefi- 
cent deities were worshipped and malevolent 
spirits propitiated. These divinities were 
representative of animals, plants and other 
natural phenomena, and of various culture 
heroes, and were venerated usually in the 
form of idols. 

Given the fact that intolerance and cruelty 
were characteristic of Europeans in general 
during the sixteenth century, it is safe to as- 
sume that none of their contemporaries 
would have behaved any better in America 
than the Spaniards did, if they had been 
exposed to similar temptations. On the 
whole it is surprising, perhaps, that the ex- 
hibitions of fanaticism, though bad enough, 
were no worse. Like the "conquistadores," 
the Spanish clergy had three motives in 
dealing with the natives. These may be 
summed up in "destruction, construction and 
instruction. " 

To the ecclesiastical mind of the time the 
idols, architectural monuments and other 
material evidences of heathen worship, were 
fabrications of the devil. Regardless, there- 
fore, of the loss to the future antiquaries and 
archeologists of America, the clergy proceeded 
ruthlessly to destroy almost everything that 
they could find suggestive of the former cults. 
In some cases the pagan sanctuaries were puri- 
fied and turned into churches and monasteries; 



54 LATIN AMERICA 

in others, the building material thus supplied 
was used for the same purpose. Yet it must 
not be forgotten that the largest amount of de- 
struction was wrought during the period of the 
conquest, when martial energy was matched 
by clerical zeal. Most of the finer monu- 
ments, also, that have been preserved were 
erected centuries before the arrival of the 
Spaniards, and were not in any sense the 
handiwork of the native peoples whom they 
actually encountered. 

Whatever the attitude of the Spanish 
clergy toward the material side of heathenism, 
the natives personally were shown an incredi- 
ble amount of mildness and forbearance in 
religious matters. They were to be indulged, 
it was said, "because of their ignorance and 
their weak minds. " Never subjected to the 
terrors of the Inquisition, if the Indians per- 
sisted in practicing their ancient cults, if they 
refused to work, or ran away, or did not at- 
tend church, or were otherwise disobedient, 
they were whipped, or compelled to fast, or do 
penance or submit to some other form of ec- 
clesiastical discipline. Only Christians, also, 
were allowed to inherit property. 

Men like Bartolome de las Casas (1474- 
1566), the famous "Apostle to the Indies," 
strove zealously to protect the natives against 
the rapacity of the rude adventurers of their 
time. It was the earnest, and somewhat 



THE CHURCH 55 

exaggerated, pleas of Las Casas on behalf of 
the West Indian islanders, which led in part 
to their replacement as laborers by negro 
slaves. His influence likewise contributed in 
large measure to the enactment of the hu- 
mane legislation that became so marked a 
feature of Spanish colonial policy. 

Both in spiritual and temporal concerns the 
clergy wished to act, not only as missionaries, 
but as schoolmasters and rulers among the 
Indians. "Unless one has over them all au- 
thority," wrote an ecclesiastic, "he has none, 
and if they are not held way under and sub- 
jected, they cannot be held in subjection at 
all." Nor did the clergy scruple to withdraw 
their native charges, whenever possible, from 
contact with the whites, regardless of the in- 
jury this procedure might cause to the main- 
tenance of a civil administration applicable 
to all classes of the population alike. 

Though legally forbidden to convert the 
aborigines by force, it was not uncommon, 
during the earlier years, for missionaries, ac- 
companied by soldiers, to make what were 
called "entries" (entradas) and "conquests 
of souls" (conquistas de almas). Raiding an 
Indian village, they would carry off children 
and youths to be taught the Spanish language 
and instructed in the Catholic faith, thus 
enabling the neophytes to become useful as 
interpreters. 



56 LATIN AMERICA 

Beginning with the children who were 
taught the catechism, often in the form 
of rhymes, and extending the instruction to 
adults who learned how to read simple leaf- 
lets and manuals in their own language and 
later in Spanish, it became possible to admit 
Indians to the priesthood and to membership 
in monastic orders. An Indian nun, in 
fact, was even canonized as St. Rose of 
Lima. Ecclesiastical festivals (fiestas), 
moreover, and pilgrimages (romerlas ) to 
favorite shrines were organized, and doubt- 
less had much influence in strengthening 
the hold of the Church on native thought, 
whatever may be said of the economic and 
social effects of the numerous holidays they 
furnished. 

So far as the Indians themselves were 
concerned, some submitted doubtless because 
of compulsion, and others, as a matter of 
policy, the net result being an outward trans- 
ference of allegiance from one faith to another, 
in recognition of the fact that the new one 
was the stronger. Imperfect acquaintance 
with the native vocabularies, the inaccuracy 
of interpreters, the lack of Indian words to ex- 
press Christian thought, and the superficial 
character of much of the religious instruction, 
all lessened the value of the work of con- 
version. 

While these drawbacks were more or less op- 



THE CHURCH 57 

erative throughout Spanish America, in sonae 
localities religious activity was so well adjusted 
to meet native conditions that, where defects 
existed, they were usually of another order. 
These localities were the areas of the mission 
stations, or "reductions" as they were called, 
in which communities of the more docile sort 
of Indians were "reduced," ^. e. "led back" 
from heathenism, and brought to a knowledge 
and practice of Christian civilization. Most of 
the "reductions" were in charge of the Jes- 
uits, and the ones best known were founded 
from 1608 onward among the Guaranis in the 
region of the present Paraguay. 

The site of such a mission was chosen with 
reference to its fitness for farming industries 
and to its remoteness from the Spanish settle- 
ments proper. Here the seclusion enabled 
the Jesuits to develop a kind of theocratic 
communism which they considered needful 
for their purpose. Displaying a remarkable 
amount of tact, firmness and skill in the way 
they appealed to the imagination, aptitudes 
and intelligence of the natives, they produced 
a society at once obedient, industrious and 
prosperous. 

Everything in the " reduction " was managed 
by the Jesuit "padres." In their villages, 
which were models of cleanliness and order, 
the neophytes, from the cradle to the grave, 
could have no thought for the morrow. As 



58 LATIN AMERICA 

children they were taken from parental care 
and brought up in charge of the "padres." 
When they reached a marriageable age, the 
young men and young women were saved any 
trouble as to choice by being stood up in oppo- 
site rows, and mated without further ado by 
pointing out to each Pedro his Maria. Under 
like direction they performed their daily 
tasks in the fields and workshops, stored 
the harvests in granaries, and received their 
rations of boiled barley and beans and their 
scanty articles of clothing. 

Few vices could be found in such communi- 
ties. Nor is it unlikely that in the long run the 
Indians profited by the systematic life to 
which they were subjected. But they could 
not progress beyond a certain point; and for 
whatever they received, they paid in the sac- 
rifice of their liberty, their individuality and 
their initiative. 

With the suppression of the Jesuit order in 
the second half of the eighteenth century, 
vanished many an Arcadia of this kind in the 
American wilderness. W^hen not taken over 
by the Franciscans or Dominicans, the mis- 
sion stations fell into ruins, and the neophytes 
lapsed into the rude conditions of former days. 

In broad outlines the organization and work 
of the Church in Brazil resembled those in 
Spanish America, although on a much smaller 
scale and conducted in a less efficient manner. 



INTELLECTUAL STATUS 59 

Various monastic orders, also, and in particu- 
lar that of the Jesuits, performed useful ser- 
vices among the natives, while striving to 
protect them against the slave-raiders. As 
the Spanish colonies had their Bartolome de 
las Casas, so Brazil had its Jose de Anchieta 
(1533-1597). 

CHAPTER VI 

INTELLiECTUAL AND ARTISTIC STATUS 

Among the relatively civilized groups of 
aborigines, those of central Mexico were 
foremost in mental and artistic achievement. 
The only drawback throughout was that 
the Indian civilization had so flimsy a tex- 
ture that it could not withstand the on- 
slaught of a small body of Europeans. 

Oblivious to any consideration other than 
that of religious fanaticism, the Spanish clergy 
treated the evidences of literary culture no less 
ruthlessly than they did those of a material 
sort. "We found a great number of their 
books," wrote one of the early ecclesiastics, 
alluding to the Mayas of Yucatan, "but be- 
cause there was nothing in them that had 
not some superstition or falsehood of the 
devil, we burned them all, at which the na- 
tives were marvelously sorry and distressed." 
On this point posterity shares the feelings 
of the Mayas; yet the fact remains that, af- 



60 LATIN AMERICA 

ter the first fury of inconoclasm had passed 
away, it was the Spanish churchmen them- 
selves who preserved many of the Indian tradi- 
tions andrehcsfrom destruction. It is quite as 
true, also, that the areas of Spanish Ajnerica 
in which the colonists made the greatest 
educational, literary and artistic progress 
were precisely those which had once been 
seats of native civilization, especially in the 
viceroyalty of New Spain. 

So as to maintain obedience to the crown 
and the Church, any system of public in- 
struction to be devised for the colonies had 
to be grounded on dogma and discipline, 
and organized primarily in the interest of 
a small and select class. Popular education 
was simply unthinkable, and intellectual 
freedom quite out of the question. 

Of the scant amount of instruction offered 
to the youth of the New World under Spanish 
dominion, the best was given in the capitals 
of the viceroy al ties, and in those of the 
more important provinces. Elsewhere it was 
apt to find but feeble support, if any at all. 
Some of the wealthier families, of course, 
sent their children to Spain to be educated. 

When so desired, the sons and daughters of 
the upper classes, and even a few bright chil- 
dren of the lower orders of society, could at- 
tend monastic schools. Here they studied the 
three "R's," music, drawing, painting and, in 



INTELLECTUAL STATUS 61 

some degree, also, mechanical arts; but most 
of them were trained in little more than re- 
ligious exercises. The Indians and half castes 
as a body were left altogether illiterate, except 
for such rudimentary teaching of a religious 
and industrial sort as they might receive at 
the mission stations. Where "colleges" (col- 
egios) and other schools for secondary instruc- 
tion existed, they were usually conducted by 
the Jesuits, more or less in preparation for 
entrance into the universities. 

Twelve institutions of higher learning were 
founded in Spanish America during the 
colonial period, eight of them before the 
creation of the oldest university in the 
United States (1636). Of these the first in 
order of time and importance were the Royal 
and Pontifical University of St. Paul, in 
Mexico, and the Greater University of St. 
Mark, in Lima, both being established by 
royal decree in 1551. All of them were or- 
ganized to some extent on the Spanish 
University of Salamanca as a model. 

The general idea underlying the system of 
higher instruction was to equip young men 
for the priesthood and for the practice of the 
law. At the same time they received a some- 
what ornamental education of a literary 
stamp, which would enable them to occupy a 
proper social station, while it disposed them 
all the more to uphold the Spanish rule. 



62 LATIN AMERICA 

Aside from defects in the educational ar- 
rangements, there were other obstacles in 
the way of intellectual growth. Among them 
may be mentioned the virtual isolation in 
which the colonies were kept from one an- 
other, as well as from the rest of the world; 
the absence of a reading public that might 
stimulate literary endeavor; the exercise of 
a rigorous censorship by the civil and ecclesi- 
astical authorities, and by the Inquisition in 
particular; and the irksome difficulties attend- 
ing the actual processes of publication and 
distribution. 

The first printing press in the New World 
was set up at Mexico in 1535, more than a 
century before anything of the sort appeared 
in what is now the United States. Its earliest 
product, a tract entitled "A Spiritual Ladder 
by which to reach Heaven" (Escala Espiri- 
tual para Uegar al Cielo), came forth in the 
following year, but no copies of it are known 
to exist. In Peru, the earliest issue of the 
press (1584) was a catechism in the Quichiia 
and Aymara tongues. By 1810 printing 
had been introduced into six other provinces 
as well. 

In view of the fact that every local printer 
had to be licensed, the publications them- 
selves subjected to a sharp censorship and 
the number of presses kept correspondingly 
limited, the output of printed matter in the 



INTELLECTUAL STATUS 63 

Spanish colonies was surprisingly large. On 
the other hand, the amount of material that 
remained in manuscript was far greater still. 
Some of the best of it, in fact, was not pub- 
lished until after the colonies had won their 
independence. The bulk of what actually 
secured publication consisted of religious es- 
says and tracts, legal treatises, primers, 
grammars and dictionaries of the native 
languages, and works on history, ethnology, 
archeology, mining, mechanics, medicine, 
plant and animal life, and on various other 
natural phenomena. In the list, also, were 
included official announcements, news sheets, 
pamphlets descriptive of memorable events 
or on armorial bearings, and certain kinds of 
imaginative literature, such as poems and 
panegyrics. 

Throughout the long list of authors in the 
colonial period the names of ecclesiastics, of 
course, predominated. Many of the contribu- 
tions to history and ethnology were extremely 
valuable. Often verbose and monotonous, 
and reflecting the ignorance and credulity 
of the age, the narratives reveal, neverthe- 
less, the existence of a patient accumulation 
of material which is altogether praiseworthy. 
To these accounts, in fact, ethnologists to- 
day owe much of what is known about the 
Indian civilizations. 

In the lighter forms of literature, poetry 



64 LATIN AMERICA 

occupied the most conspicuous place. At 
contests held in the monasteries and "col- 
leges" of Mexico, hundreds of poets at times 
are said to have competed for the prize of 
distinction over their fellows, even if their 
versification was rather crude. Some of the 
earlier historical writings, indeed, were poet- 
ical compositions. 

The intellectual decline in the mother coun- 
try, following the "Golden Age," was reflected 
in the colonies, up to the second half of the 
eighteenth century. Meanwhile, the accession 
of a member of the French royal house of 
Bourbon to the throne of Spain brought into 
Spanish life a measure of French influence. 
One of its forms appeared in the grant to dis- 
tinguished foreigners of permission to visit 
the dominions in America. The travels and 
investigations of these men, in fact, consti- 
tute the stock sources of information about 
conditions in the colonies, as they stood in the 
later years of Spanish rule. 

Gradually the influence of experimental 
science, of European learned societies, and 
even of the French liberal philosophy, began 
to percolate into the colonies, in spite of civil 
and ecclesiastical opposition. The work of 
Mexican astronomers won especial praise from 
European scholars. Nor was this the only 
encouragement to science. A school of sur- 
gery, a college of mining and a botanical gar- 



INTELLECTUAL STATUS 65 

den caused the city of Mexico, toward the 
close of the eighteenth century, to become 
widely celebrated for its learning. 

Journalism, also, made some progress in 
the Spanish colonies. The first sheet that 
conveyed any "news" was a leaflet published 
at Lima in 1594, to satisfy a popular demand 
for information about the capture of an 
English pirate. 

About 1620 these occasional leaflets telling 
of some special event began to appear in Mex- 
ico, as well as in Lima; but not until the first 
quarter of the eighteenth century did any- 
thing resembling modern newspapers come 
from the colonial press. Starting in Mexico 
in 1722, they were issued at irregular intervals 
as small quartos, single fold with four pages, 
and wretchedly printed on a poor quality of 
paper. When foreign intelligence was avail- 
able, it appeared in the shape of belated de- 
spatches, or reprints from back numbers of 
Spanish newspapers, brought by the fleets. 

Alternating between the names of "Mer- 
cury" and "Gazette," the two newspapers 
of Mexico and Lima led a rather spasmodic 
existence till 1784, when in the former city 
the issues became regular and eventually 
reached a semi- weekly edition. In both cases 
the sheets had an official cast, the contents 
giving facts and laws, but not opinions. 
Between 1729 and 1810 five provinces, in 



66 LATIN AMERICA 

addition to Mexico and Peru, had news- 
papers of a more or less brief existence. 

Literary and scientific journals of an evanes- 
cent sort had been fairly numerous since the 
latter part of the seventeenth century. They 
bore such titles as "The Flying Mercury," 
" TheThinker," " TheLiterary Gazette," ** Ob- 
servations on Physics, History and the 
Natural and Useful Arts," "The Learned, 
Economic and Commercial Journal," "The 
School of Concord" and "The First Fruits of 
Culture." 

Among the fine arts of colonial times, archi- 
tecture attained the fullest development, and 
that mainly in its ecclesiastical form. Both 
church and state in the more important vice- 
royalties. New Spain and Peru, enjoyed reve- 
nues which enabled them to construct and 
adorn public edifices on a scale of lavish magnif- 
icence. Particularly was this the case in New 
Spain. The wealth of the country, its rela- 
tive freedom from hostile incursions, and 
abundance of building material made it pos- 
sible to perpetuate in mighty structures the 
dominance of the religious and political ideas 
of the time. 

Sculpture and painting never attained in 
the Spanish colonies the luxuriance which 
distinguished the architecture of the time. 
Though incentives were abundant, their in- 
fluence was nullified in large measure by a 



INTELLECTUAL STATUS 67 

faulty technique, and an almost slavish ad- 
herence at times to the examples of European 
masters, thus discouraging originality in con- 
ception and treatment. For the portrayal 
of the human form, also, good models could 
not be obtained, chiefly because of the op- 
position of the Church to studies in the 
nude. Few pieces of colonial sculpture had 
any merit. The best of them, perhaps, was 
a bronze equestrian statue of King Charles 
IV of Spain, set up in Mexico in 1803. 

Since the Church was the great patron of 
art, it was natural that the vast majority of the 
frescoes and canvases produced should deal 
with religious subjects. Not only copies, 
but even the originals, of works by Spanish, 
Flemish and Italian masters were numerous 
in ecclesiastical buildings and in the homes of 
the wealthy, especially in New Spain. Murillo 
everywhere was the artist most revered, a 
primary source of inspiration for the major- 
ity of colonial painters. Frescoes too often 
suffered from the effects of humidity and 
earthquakes to be rated of much value. 

Compared with the situation in Spanish 
America, the signs of intellectual and artistic 
progress in Brazil were not very encouraging. 
For this relative backwardness, the neglect 
of the home government, the huge size of the 
country, the influence of climatic conditions, 
and the special circumstances of a social and 



68 LATIN AMERICA 

industrial nature, which have already been 
sketched, were all more or less responsible. 

On the larger plantations the priests some- 
times taught the owner's children. In towns 
monastic schools were available. Secondary 
instruction was cared for principally by the 
Jesuits, whose "college" at Bahia gained a 
high reputation. 

Although Brazil had no universities, no 
printing press before 1808, and no very 
worthy creation of trowel, brush and chisel 
till much later, the country felt, nevertheless, 
the quickening impulses that marked the clos- 
ing years of the colonial regime. One of the 
manifestations of the new spirit was shown in 
the founding, chiefly in the southern provin- 
ces, of learned societies modeled after those 
of Europe. 

Some of the Brazilian poets of the time gave 
more or less conscious expression, also, to the 
faint sentiment of nationality which was be- 
ginning to pervade the Spanish and Portu- 
guese colonies. This they did, either by em- 
phasizing the blend of the European and the 
native, out of which was to rise a new and 
independent nation, or by directing unfavor- 
able attention to the ecclesiastical bulwark, 
on which rested much of the political domin- 
ion of Spain and Portugal in America. 



PART II 
THE REPUBLICS 

CHAPTER VII 

INDEPENDENCE 

Few movements in history have been so 
much misunderstood, few have displayed 
such a complexity of purposes and methods, 
and none has presented a stranger outcome 
than the series of revolutions, between 1810 
and 1826, which destroyed the power of Spain 
on the continents of America. The struggle 
is best explained, perhaps, by regarding it 
from a threefold point of view: Spanish, 
Spanish-American and European. 

In the first place, it was a fight between 
Spaniards of the New World and a conserva- 
tive government of the Old World, which for- 
bade liberty of thought and action at home 
no less than it did in the provinces beyond 
the seas. To the extent that Spanish soldiers 
obeyed the commands of this government, it 
was a fight between two groups of Spaniards, 
cherishing two sets of ideas and coming from 
two diifferent environments. The one repre- 
sented the mother country and autocracy; the 
other was imbued with the spirit of local in- 



70 LATIN AMERICA 

dividualism which had been brought from 
Spain to America, and there given new life 
and vigor. 

From the standpoint of colonial conditions 
proper, the contest was a civil war between 
the men who wished to uphold the existing 
regime and those who desired to have it ab- 
olished. If independence were to be attained, 
it was necessary to overcome the resistance of 
the loyalists and the passiveness of the neu- 
trals, who were far more numerous throughout 
than were the professional Spanish soldiers. 
Hardly a third of the population was inter- 
ested in the struggle when it began. So long 
as the dominant classes, and in particular the 
clergy, were generally hostile or indifferent to 
revolution, and the great body of the Indians 
and half-castes, neutral or inclined to favor 
the home government, the chances of suc- 
cess were small. When the scanty strength 
of Spain was becoming exhausted, and cer- 
tain European nations found it impossible 
to intervene on Spain's behalf, the social 
elements hitherto adverse to the cause of 
independence gradually lent it their support, 
and the issue was then decided. 

But the most extraordinary phase of the 
whole movement is seen only in connection 
with lands and peoples entirely outside of 
Spanish America. From this viewpoint the 
wars of independence were an exotic, the 



INDEPENDENCE 71 

product of European ideas and institutions, 
substantially unknown both in Spain and in 
its oversea dominions, until brought thither 
as a result of conditions in Europe at large. 
They might even be called a phase of Euro- 
pean rivalries transferred to America. 

No matter how vigilant the watchfulness 
of the Spanish local authorities, in the second 
half of the eighteenth century a far more ex- 
tensive knowledge of what was going on in 
the world crept into the colonies than had 
ever been acquired before. The works of 
such philosophers and historians as Montes- 
quieu, Rousseau, Voltaire and Robertson be- 
gan eagerly to be read. European newspapers 
were used to wrap up cheese, fish and other 
commodities, and then smuggled in under 
the very noses of the inquisitors and their 
henchmen. After the declaration of Indepen- 
dence of the United States was published, 
French translations of it soon found their way 
into Spanish America. Men who had trav- 
eled in Europe and in the first of the repub- 
lics to be set up in the New World, also, 
came home to tell of what they had seen 
and heard. 

To the force of the example of the United 
States was soon added the mighty influence of 
the French Revolution. Er.cial sympathy, 
no less than the methods oi ' e revolution- 
ists who overthrew an "ancien regime," sim- 



72 LATIN AMERICA 

ilar to that which existed in Spain, worked 
powerfully on the imagination of the 
Spanish Americans. When the movement 
in behalf of independence had fairly begun, 
therefore, "liberty, equality and fraternity" 
became watchwords, the "bonnet rouge," or 
liberty cap, an emblem, and masonic lodges, 
a useful instrument for revolutionary pro- 
paganda. The ideas and processes of polit- 
ical and social experimentation visible in the 
French Revolution and its aftermath were 
all imitated to a greater or less extent. 

In 1808 France delivered the master- 
stroke that was to make the independence 
of continental Spanish America a certainty. 
When Napoleon forced the king of Spain to 
abdicate, placed his own brother Joseph on 
the throne and overran the country with his 
armies, he created a situation that was from 
every point of view extraordinary. In Spain 
the people refused to recognize the usurper 
and organized revolutionary committees (jun- 
tas), to direct the struggle for freedom and 
to govern in the name of their deposed sover- 
eign, Ferdinand VII. 

The issue in the colonies was far more 
complicated. Since the Spanish officials 
had received their mandate from a king who 
no longer ruled, they had no legal right to 
their positions, unless they accepted appoint- 
ment from Joseph Bonaparte. This in gen- 



INDEPENDENCE 7S 

eral they refused to do, and even went so 
far as to exclude his representatives when the 
latter tried to assume charge of the adminis- 
stration. Instead, they preferred to continue 
governing in the name of Ferdinand VII, 
and meanwhile to regard the "juntas," and 
later a regency that was set up, as the lawful 
authority in Spain. 

On their part, the colonists either sub- 
mitted to this arrangement, or proceeded to 
follow the precedent established in the 
mother country, with such modifications as 
local circumstances might suggest. The first 
course of action was the one commonly taken 
throughout the viceroyalty of New Spain 
and in the the province of Peru. In Spanish 
South America at large, however, the influ- 
ence of foreign ideas usually prompted the 
intelligent classes to take matters more or 
less into their own hands. 

The outcome of a paradoxical situation 
like this is not difficult to foresee. Friction, 
and even conflict, with the Spanish func- 
tionaries, who did not relish any deprivation 
of their powers, was inevitable. The same 
was true of the policy to be observed toward 
the people who might be dissatisfied with the 
regime provided for them, or alarmed at 
the tendencies that it was assuming. Above 
all, the enjoyment of practical autonomy, 
up to the time that Ferdinand VII was 



74 LATIN AMERICA 

restored to the throne in 1814, could only lead 
to revolt when that monarch revealed him- 
self as a genuine Bourbon, incapable of learn- 
ing anything or of forgetting anything. From 
revolution in behalf of liberal rule to revolu- 
tion in behalf of independence, was an easy 
and natural step. 

Long concerned in efforts to break down 
the commercial monopoly of Spain in the New 
World, Great Britain, on its part, was a self- 
interested advocate of Spanish-American free- 
dom. In the revolt of the Spanish Americans 
it saw an opportunity to secure markets for 
its manufactures and capital, raw material for 
its factories and cargoes for its ships. Ac- 
cordingly, while the government itself kept 
up a show of neutrality, representatives of 
the insurgents were welcomed to British 
shores; money, ships and munitions of war 
were provided, and British soldiers of for- 
tune enlisted in the patriot ranks. 

For reasons that are partially explained by 
the local situation and other circumstances al- 
ready described, the three great centers from 
which the revolt against Spain spread through- 
out the Spanish territory in the two continents 
were found within the areas of the present 
Venezuela, Argentine Republic and Mexico. 
A stronger explanation still is afforded by 
the fact that Venezuela, was the birthplace of 
the Francisco de Miranda (1752-1816), the 



INDEPENDENCE 75 

chief pioneer of the movement toward eman- 
cipation, and of Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), 
the "Liberator," who, in addition to winning 
independence for his native land, assured it 
also to what are now Colombia, Ecuador and 
Bolivia, and contributed powerfully to the 
freedom of Peru. In the Argentine Republic 
was born the most eminent patriot of the south- 
ern colonies. This was Jose de San Martin 
(1778-1850), who freed Chile from the Span- 
ish yoke, and carried the war up into Peru as 
well. Indeed, the history of the entire struggle 
for independence in Spanish South America is 
contained largely in the biographies of these 
three men. On the other hand, Mexico, as 
the seat of power in Spanish North America, 
was the logical starting point of efforts to 
overthrow the Spanish dominion in that 
quarter. 

By 1826, when the Spanish flag was finally 
lowered, eight new and independent states 
had arisen on the continents of America. 
These were: Paraguay, the "United Provinces 
of theRiver Plate," Chile, "Great Colombia," 
Peru, the United Mexican States, the "Cen- 
tral American Federation, ' ' and Bolivia. All 
of them, except Paraguay, which had once 
.formed part of the "audiencia " of Buenos 
Ayres, and " Great Colombia," which corre- 
sponded to the viceroyalty of New Granada, 
were practically identical in area with "au- 



76 LATIN AMERICA 

diencias" and "presidencies" in the other 
viceroyalties, as they existed at the opening 
of the revolution. The two island colonies, 
Cuba and Porto Rico, remained faithful to 
the mother country; although in the case 
of Cuba, this attitude was due more to Span- 
ish strength, perhaps, than to feelings of 
loyalty as such. 

During the course of the struggle the people 
of the United States sympathized openly 
with the efforts of the Spanish Americans 
to win independence. Though the govern- 
ment professed neutrality, it did not always 
prevent ships from leaving American ports, 
laden with volunteers and supplies. Then, as 
it became evident that Spain could not 
regain its lost dominions, in 1822 the United 
States decided to recognize the independence 
of the Spanish- American republics. 

Because of the disposition of Austria, Rus- 
sia and Prussia, the chief members of the so- 
called "Holy Alliance," to intervene on behalf 
of Spain, the United States, in understand- 
ing with Great Britain, resolved to forestall 
any possible action of that sort. In 1823, ac- 
cordingly, it put forth the " Monroe Doctrine," 
warning the nations of Europe that America 
was not to be regarded by them as a field for 
future colonization; that they must not ex- 
tend their monarchical system to it, and that 
they must refrain from interfering in general 



INDEPENDENCE 77 

with the progress of the new republics. Great 
Britain followed, in 1825, with a formal recog- 
nition of the Spanish-American indepen- 
dence; but Spain itself refused to take any 
step in that direction until 1836. 

In the case of Brazil, the causes of separa- 
tion from Portugal were similar to those al- 
ready given for Spanish America, except that 
the struggle in the latter area furnished an 
additional incentive. The actual processes of 
withdrawal, however, and the general result 
of the operation, were quite different. 

Driven from Portugal, early in 1808, by an 
invasion of the mother country by the troops 
of Napoleon, the royal court took advantage 
of the offer of transportation in British ves- 
sels to shift its residence to Brazil. Acting in 
accordance with British advice, also, Joao, 
the prince regent of the time, proceeded to 
throw open the ports of the colony to for- 
eign trade, removed some of the burdens on 
industry, encouraged immigration, estab- 
lished a printing press and introduced a num- 
ber of other reforms of a more or less liberal 
character. Further proofs of royal interest 
were furnished, in 1815, by raising Brazil to 
the rank of a joint kingdom with Portugal, 
and later by annexing what is now Uruguay, 
under the name of the " Cisplatine Province. " 

Fairly popular as these measures were, 
they did not serve to reconcile the colonists to 



78 LATIN AMERICA 

a continuance of Portuguese domination, or 
to prevent occasional uprisings. Most of the 
people felt that a big country like Brazil, 
endowed with enormous possibilities of de- 
velopment, ought not to submit any longer 
to the dictation of a weak little kingdom in 
Europe. Their conviction on the matter was 
strengthened by the arrogant behavior of the 
Portuguese who had followed in the wake of 
the court, by the spirit of unrest among some 
of the Portuguese troops who had become im- 
bued with English ideas, and above all, by 
the doubtful sympathy of Joao, now king, 
with his own reforms. 

So far then, as the desirability of separation 
from the mother country was concerned, opin- 
ions were substantially united. Regarding 
the kind of separation and the form of gov- 
ernment to follow it, they were considerably 
divided. In the northern provinces a certain 
amount of sentiment was shown in favor of 
erecting a federal republic; but the prestige of 
monarchy, created by the long residence of 
the court, and the lessons, taught by the mis- 
fortunes of the Spanish Americans in trying 
to maintain stability in their republican sys- 
tem, prevented any notions of the sort from 
gaining acceptance in Brazil at large. 

Aware of the indignation aroused by the 
menacing attitude of the mother country, 
Pedro, the prince regent, who had been left 



INDEPENDENCE 79 

in charge of Brazil when his father returned 
to Portugal, wisely resolved to put himself 
at the head of the movement for emancipa- 
tion. In 1822, accordingly, he proclaimed the 
independence of Brazil, and assumed the title 
of emperor. Two years later, also, he granted 
a reasonably liberal constitution, not for 
actual use, but simply to gratify the desires 
of those who wanted it. The revolution thus 
had been accomplished practically without 
bloodshed, and Brazil started on its indepen- 
dent life with the best prospects of freedom 
from the disastrous conflicts that were har- 
assing the Spanish- American countries. 

Portugal, of course, was too feeble to do any- 
thing more than glower at its former colony. 
The "Holy Alliance" contemplated interven- 
tion, but was dissuaded from doing so by the 
opposition of Great Britain and the United 
States. Pressure from the British govern- 
ment, futhermore, induced Portugal to ac- 
cept the inevitable, and, in 1825, it recog- 
nized the independence of Brazil. 

Meanwhile, on the French island of Haiti, 
another state was being formed. Vastly out- 
numbering the white inhabitants, the negroes 
and mulattoes of Saint Domingue took ad- 
vantage of the privileges of freedom and citi- 
zenship conferred by the French National 
Convention to rise in revolt under an able 
leader known as "Toussaint L'Ouverture." 



80 LATIN AMERICA 

When they finally triumphed, in 1801, a 
republic was set up with Toussaint as its 
president. 

An army of 30,000 men sent by Napoleon 
attempted to regain control, and the havoc 
wrought by carnage and pestilence was 
frightful. After yellow fever had carried off 
untold thousands of the French soldiers, the 
warfare ceased. Thereupon, in 1804, the 
negro chieftain who had succeeded Tous- 
saint in power informed his compatriots 
that with the approval of his generals, he 
had taken the title of emperor. 

Upon a mass of people scarcely out of sla- 
very the efforts of a few men of intelligence 
among the Haitians to better their unfortu- 
nate lot could make but little impression. 
Negro despots built huge fortified palaces, 
surrounded themselves with gaudy pomp 
and affected the manners of oriental poten- 
tates, while their subjects grovelled before 
them. Anarchy, violence and further degra- 
dation could be the only immediate heritage 
of such a past. 

On the news of 'the French invasion of 
Spain, in 1808, Santo Domingo, the eastern 
portion of the island, in which the white 
remnant was larger, drove out the black mas- 
ter of the west, and again became a Spanish 
province. Thirteen years later it declared 
itself a republic, only to fall under the con- 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 81 

trol of Haiti once more. Finally, in 1825, 
France agreed to acknowledge the indepen- 
dence of its former dominion. 

CHAPTER VIII 

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

In its relation to their extent of territory, 
the population of the republics that had 
overthrown the rule of Spain was extremely 
small. Yet, despite the fact that negro 
slavery was soon abolished, and that earnest 
efforts were made to attract European 
immigration and capital, the Spanish-Ameri- 
can countries were shunned for many years 
by these vital factors of progress. 

Geographically and climatically the regions 
were less attractive than those of the Eng- 
lish-speaking republic in North America, 
and besides, the facilities of transportation 
to the former were alike deficient and ex- 
pensive. The tide of immigration set in 
toward the United States at a time when 
Spanish America was still under the col- 
onial regime of exclusion, or was struggling 
in the throes of revolution. Both of these 
circumstances offered scant inducement to 
foreigners who wished to establish them- 
selves in peace. The earlier immigrants, 
furthermore, coming as they did from the 
British Isles and from Germany, were not dis- 



82 LATIN AMERICA 

posed to seek their fortunes among peoples 
of a race-stock, of ideas, of religion and in- 
stitutions, so different from their own. 
Nor was capital likely to go to areas in which 
political conditions were uncertain, unless it 
went in accordance with terms that imposed 
heavy obligations for the future to satisfy. 

Bereft of political experience on a large 
scale, and lacking the education needful 
to dispel ignorance among the people in 
general, no less than to prepare them for 
the duties of citizenship, the Spanish Ameri- 
cans were bound to commit two grave errors. 
In some cases they practically continued the 
system of colonial times, by submitting to 
one or more of their own number, who either 
thought and acted for them, or else prevented 
them from thinking and acting for them- 
selves. They relied, therefore, upon official 
agencies, in the forms of dictators and oli- 
garchies, to carry on the work of admin- 
istration, instead of upon the private ini- 
tiative of the citizens themselves. In other 
cases they scorned legal methods entirely, 
and strove to do whatever local circumstances 
or personal inclination might suggest. 

Though paper constitutions were numer- 
ous, they were promulgated often on the 
assumption that republics must have them. 
Theoretically they provided restrictions on 
the governing and liberties for the governed; 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 83 

practically, the liberties were for the gov- 
erning and the restrictions were for the gov- 
erned. 

Fifteen years or more of warfare, also, 
had developed among the Spanish Ameri- 
cans a blatant and aggressive militarism 
that had to seek an outlet for its ebullitions. 
A host of "caudillos," or partisan chief- 
tains, came to the front, each of them claim- 
ing that considerations of honor, patriotism, 
progress and prosperity required that all 
power should be entrusted to him alone. 
These claims were set forth in bombastic proc- 
lamations, known as "pronunciamientos," 
denouncing the statements made and meas- 
ures suggested by any opposing leader or 
faction, and promising a dazzling array of 
benefits that would follow the new regime, 
if established. ' 

Some of these would-be saviors of their 
country were doubtless sincere and dis- 
interested; others had few scruples to ob- 
serve, so long as their personal ambitions 
could be satisfied. Civil convulsions, checked 
by dictators, and renewed struggles for sta- 
bility when the dictators had been over- 
thrown, were the logical outcome of such 
conditions until order and progress could 
be attained. 

When the foreigner and his money came 
at last, it was only too often the case that 



84 LATIN AMERICA 

he had no intention of seeking a new home. 
Instead, he came to enrich himself and re- 
turn to his own land. Most of the repub- 
lics have been forced to rely mainly on their 
own natural increase in numbers, upon a 
process which, in view of the racial elements 
in their population, has not always worked 
to their advantage. It has been their lot 
at times, also, to undergo exploitation 
rather than development, to submit to the 
operation of forces from abroad which ulti- 
mately exhaust while they temporarily pro- 
duce. 

Throughout Spanish America the countries 
that have made the greatest progress in 
every respect have been precisely those 
which have received the benefits of foreign 
immigration and capital in largest amount. 
The fact goes far to prove that, whenever 
the republics shall have become peopled 
sufficiently, and have been afforded the 
financial means to develop their resources, 
material wealth itself will resolve many of 
the problems with which they have had to 
contend. 

A study of these problems, moreover, 
leaves the conviction that most of what ought 
to be condemned has sprung from exceptional 
causes. Taking their respective disadvan- 
tages and misfortunes into account, the 
great majority of the countries have made 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 85 

marked progress toward a higher and better 
stage of civilization. Each should be cred- 
ited, accordingly, with the measure of suc- 
cess that has been obtained, and allowance 
made for many of the shortcomings that may 
still exist. 

The history of the Spanish-American re- 
publics during the half century that fol- 
lowed their establishment as independent 
states may be roughly divided into two 
periods. Of these the first, extending up 
to 1852, coincided with the so-called "age 
of the dictators." In its earlier phases, 
and even while the revolutionary struggle 
was going on, it was a time of political phil- 
osophizing, of constitutional phrase-making 
and of processes of experimentation in the 
framing of governments, and in the adjust- 
ment of social conditions to suit the new 
regime of freedom. Roman names and 
institutions, or titles and usages borrowed 
from Napoleonic France, such as "trium- 
virates," "consulates" and "directorates," 
were especially popular in the most southerly 
group of republics; whereas Mexico, for nine 
months, even had an emperor. Efforts 
were made to induce European princes to 
accept thrones in Spanish America, and 
Bolivar himself, toward the close of his life, 
favored such a plan. Then, when the pos- 
sibility of limited monarchy proved vain, 



86 LATIN AMERICA 

a republican system of some kind was def- 
initely inaugurated everywhere. 

Meanwhile the power of the dictator, the 
rule of the man whose sole guidance in action 
came from his own strength and discretion, 
was slowly making itself manifest. To ex- 
plain the phenomenon, the theorizing and 
experimentation just mentioned, and even 
the military experiences bequeathed by the 
revolution against Spain, are not sufficient. 
It must be remembered that what the 
leaders of that movem^ent had in mind was, 
not the establishment of a democracy of 
the Greek, French or American type, but 
rather an assurance that the classes already 
in control should be freed altogether from 
interference on the part of the mother 
country and its representatives. 

Bolivar was still more radical in his views 
and aims. Discounting some of his earlier 
utterances evoked by the storm and stress 
of battle, he frankly did not believe that 
the people of the Spanish-American repub- 
lics in his time were capable of self-govern- 
ment. If this were generally true of the 
white population, it was overwhelmingly 
the fact in the case of the Indian and mixed 
races. He was of the opinion, therefore, 
that the citizens of all classes could best 
acquire the knowledge and experience they 
needed for political education by having 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 87 

them subjected to a wise and kindly, but 
firm and strong, dictator who derived his 
authority nominally from a constitution, 
but actually from considerations of expedi- 
ency. His term of office should be a long 
one, preferably for Hfe, and his powers 
should be correspondingly broad. Such at 
least was Bolivar's ideal, however im- 
possible it might be of realization. 

The political and social environment in 
which the dictator, whatever his official 
title, had to work, was made up chiefly of 
some nine elements which operated sep- 
arately, or grouped themselves for joint 
action, as circumstances might suggest. 
Of these elements the first was the partisan 
leader, who represented his own aspirations, 
selfish or altruistic, and received support 
from a personal or local constituency. Adopt- 
ing his ideas or plans, whether they under- 
stood them or not, his adherents commonly 
called themselves by his name, with the 
suffix "istas" added. Often, too, they 
displayed a particular color as an emblem, 
and their attachment to it was so fanatical as 
to become what a Spanish-American writer 
has aptly termed "monochromania." The 
other eight elements were parties or factions 
reflecting to a large extent similar groups 
in Europe, yet having some characteristics 
of their own. 



88 LATIN AMERICA 

Whatever the local designations chosen, 
as for example, the "Yorkinos," (York-rite 
men) and the "Escoceses" (Scottish-rite 
men) in Mexico, where freemasonry had 
been early introduced from the United States, 
the eight parties or factions in question may 
be classified somewhat as follows : the unitary, 
the military, the clerical, the conservative, 
the federal, the civilian, the lay and the 
liberal. In most cases the first four of these 
groups were allied against the last four, and 
vice versa; but the practice was far from 
being universal. Though many of their 
respective leaders had a clear conception 
of what they wanted, so much could not be 
said of the uneducated masses who submitted 
to their direction. Serving blindly in the 
ranks, they obeyed the orders of their 
superiors, shared in the enthusiasm of the 
moment, and hoped for promised benefits 
that they did not always obtain, even if their 
side were victorious. 

The views of some of these groups re- 
quire a word of explanation. The unitaries, 
for example, desired a system of government 
similar to that which prevailed in France at 
the time, with the monarchical element 
omitted. That is to say, they wished power 
to be centralized throughout, and to have 
the various provinces made into adminis- 
trative districts, the chief officials of which 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 89 

should be appointed by the central author- 
ity itself. In the federal ranks were marshaled 
the advocates of a form of government similar 
to that which had been established in the 
United States. The clericals and conserva- 
tives were inclined to bar the entrance of im- 
migrants of alien faith, and regularly upheld 
the Roman Church in all its prerogatives and 
influence. On their part, the liberals were 
especially opposed to the control of that 
Church over public instruction, and over 
other matters of secular importance. 

Out of the liberals, furthermore, came 
radicals, who demanded the separation of 
church and state, the abolition of traditional 
abuses, and the introduction of the reforms 
that the enlightened nations of the world 
had adopted, and of those which philoso- 
phers had declared to be imperative for the 
welfare of mankind. Belonging more or 
less to all the groups were the advocates of 
presidential authority over the congress, 
of congressional authority over the presi- 
dent, of the parliamentary system, and of 
other methods of government. Under such 
conditions stability and progress seemed 
almost impossible of attainment. Dictators 
were inevitable, and some of them were 
men of remarkable character and ability, 
whatever may be said of their merits or de- 
merits in general. 



90 LATIN AMERICA 

During the period up to 1852 several 
noteworthy political changes occurred. In 
1825 the "United Provinces of the Hiver 
Plate'* took the name of the "Argentine 
Confederation." Three years later, Uru- 
guay secured its independence of Brazil. 
Between 1829 and 1831 "Great Colombia" 
broke up into the three republics of Vene- 
zuela, Ecuador and New Granada. In 
1833 Chile, alone of all the republics of 
Spanish America, profited by their example 
to set up a regime practically free from 
dictators and insurrections. This was due 
chiefly to the fact that it was peopled by the 
descendants of Spaniards of the strongest 
and sturdiest type, and by the Araucanian 
Indians who had much the same qualities. 
Between 1838 and 1847 the "Central Ameri- 
can Federation" fell to pieces, and out of it 
came the ^ve little republics of Guatemala, 
Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador and Costa 
Rica. In 1844 Santo Domingo threw off 
the rule of Haiti and set itself up as the 
Dominican Republic. 

The second period in the history of na- 
tional development in Spanish America, 
extending approximately froin 1852 to 1876, 
may be characterized as "the struggle for 
stability." It was peculiarly the era of the 
partisan chieftain who had to contend with 
his rivals for supremacy. The old type of 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 91 

dictator, however, still survived, and was 
represented in several cases by men of 
greater enlightenment than their prede- 
cessors had been. Although factional up- 
heavals were frequent enough, a clearer 
understanding was obtained in regard to the 
meaning of constitutions, the methods of 
applying them and the necessity for the 
spread of education. Capital cities, like 
Buenos Ayres, Montevideo and Lima, in 
which the European population enjoyed 
some influence, had a considerable share 
in the process. The introduction of railways, 
the establishment of steamship and tele- 
graph lines, and the increasing investment 
of European capital in other respects, helped 
to restore order and insure progress. Wars, 
also, with Spain and France, which checked 
further intervention on the part of those 
countries, turned to the ultimate advantage 
of the Spanish-American states. In general, 
the results of the period may be summed up 
in the partial triumph of the liberal, federalist, 
lay and civilian forces against their more or 
less reactionary opponents. 

Within these twenty-four years New Gran- 
ada changed its form of government from the 
unitary to the federal, and took on three 
successive names: the "Granadine Confed- 
eration," the "United States of New Gran- 
ada" and the "United States of Colombia," 



92 LATIN AMERICA 

Venezuela, similarly, adopted the federal 
system, and called itself the "United States 
of Venezuela." Among the southern groups 
of countries the "Argentine Confedera- 
tion" became, in 1853, the "Argentine 
Republic," and, along with Uruguay, be- 
gan to devote itself assiduously to stock- 
raising and agriculture. By 1874 revolu- 
tions of a serious character had disappeared 
almost entirely from the former state. 
In Mexico, furthermore, under the efficient 
rule of Benito Juarez, a full-blooded Indian, 
peace was eventually secured, and the 
country prepared for the development of 
later years. 

From the civil wars, the rule of dictators 
and the political unrest in general, which 
had disturbed so many of the republics of 
Spanish America up to 1876, Brazil, or 
Portuguese America, was practically exempt. 
Declining to adopt republican institutions for 
which they were quite as unfitted as their 
neighbors, the Brazilians wisely accepted the 
logic of their situation far enough to set up 
what was substantially a limited national 
monarchy with a parliamentary regime. 
This policy enabled them to tide safely over 
the transition from a foreign autocracy to 
a republican and federal system that they 
could adopt, whenever their knowledge and 
experience should have reached the point 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 93 

when it was safe to discard the monarchical 
element altogether. Except for local insur- 
rections of no very great importance during 
the first few years, the long reign of 
Dom Pedro II, from 1840 to 1889, was 
alike peaceful and progressive. 

The period since 1876 has been marked 
by an extraordinary degree of progress in 
most of the countries of Latin America 
at large. Due chiefly to the stimulus of 
capital and immigration from Europe, and 
to a less extent from the United States, 
natural resources have been developed and 
the means of transportation and communi- 
cation improved, far beyond anything known 
in the years preceding. These profound 
changes have brought with them social 
advancement, assured the triumph of a lib- 
eral regime, checked militarism, introduced 
orderly government, encouraged industry 
and commerce, and given a tremendous 
impulse to educational, intellectual and 
artistic endeavor. 

In the various processes doubtless the 
most striking phenomenon is what may be 
termed "the rise of the great states," the 
attainment by certain countries of a position 
of distinct superiority over their fellows. 
The main features of it are determined 
in part by the extent and nature of the 
territory possessed, the climatic conditions, 



94 LATIN AMERICA 

the amount of resources utilized, and by 
the character of the population, as well 
as the degree to which it has increased 
in numbers. They are ascertained chiefly, 
perhaps, by the relative stability, progress, 
prosperity and power, alike material, moral 
and mental, which the various countries have 
shown. 

According to tendencies or accomplish- 
ments of this sort, it is possible to make an 
approximate classification of the seven- 
teen republics already existing in 1876, and 
of Brazil, Cuba and Panama, the three that 
have been added to them since that time. 
They may be arranged in three groups, de- 
pending upon the relative degree of ad- 
vancement shown by the members of each. 
Some, of course, have progressed more fully 
in certain respects than the others have done, 
and the differentiation cannot be fixed abso- 
lutely in all cases. To the first group belong 
the Argentine Republic, Brazil, Chile, Uru- 
guay and Costa Rica. In the second may be 
placed Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Cuba, Sal- 
vador, Colombia, Venezuela and Panama. 
In the third category are found Guatemala, 
Ecuador, Paraguay, the Dominican Repub- 
lic, Haiti, Nicaragua and Honduras. 

Since the leading characteristics of the 
more recent development and of present 
conditions in the Latin-American countries 



NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 95 

will be brought out in the descriptive chap- 
ters following the account of international 
relations, only a few incidents of especial im- 
portance remain to be chronicled. From 
1876 to 1880, and from 1884 to 1911, when 
he was overthrown by a revolution and 
forced to quit the country, Porfirio Diaz, 
one of the most able and talented adminis- 
trators of modern times, ruled Mexico with an 
iron hand, but gave it the blessings of peace 
and opened its wondrous resources to the 
world. Since then political convulsions 
and irregular methods of administration, 
like those of earlier days, have caused 
Mexico to fall away from the advanced posi- 
tion that it held so long. In 1886 the "United 
States of Colombia" changed its form of 
government from the federal to the unitary, 
and its name to the "Republic of Colombia. " 
The most significant events in Brazil were 
the final abolition of negro slavery in 1888, 
and the establishment of a federal republic 
under the name of the "United States of 
Brazil," a year later, by the simple expedi- 
ent of expelling the imperial family. Chile, 
in 1891, after an armed conflict between the 
president and the congress, put an end to 
what the latter feared was likely to become 
a presidential autocracy. Through the inter- 
vention of the United States, Cuba won its 
independence of Spain in 1898. Five years 



96 LATIN AMERICA 

later, the province of PaiiAma seceded from 
Colombia, and became the twentieth repub- 
lic in Latin America. 



CHAPTER IX 

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

Among the Latin-American countries 
themselves, one of the chief matters of dis- 
pute has had to do with the determination 
of boundaries. During the colonial period 
practically no serious effort was made to 
^x any frontier lines among the various 
provinces, the result being that, after the 
colonies had won their independence, they 
were unable, for many years, to ascertain 
what their territorial limits were. Although 
boundary questions at times have almost 
brought on war, a great majority of them 
have been settled, either by diplomatic 
adjustment or by foreign arbitration. 

Virtually the sole case in which an issue 
of disputed territory led to warfare was that 
concerning a small part of the west coast 
of South America. The difficulty arose 
originally in connection with the exploi- 
tation of deposits of nitrate of soda, found 
in the "Desert of Atacama." As the result 
of the so-called "War of the Pacific" (1879- 
1883), between Chile on the one side and 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 97 

Bolivia allied with Peru on the other, Chile 
acquired possession of the coast area formerly 
belonging to Bolivia, and of the provinces 
of Tacna and Arica, which had been part of 
Peru. According to the t eaty of peace, in 
1884, it was agreed that Chile should hold 
Tacna and Arica for ten years, at the close 
of which period, the question of ultimate 
ownership should be submitted to a pop- 
ular vote in the provinces themselves. No 
solution of the problem has been attained 
since then, largely because the two countries 
have been unable to reach an understanding 
as to the way in which the vote should be 
taken. 

Another serious source of contention 
among the Spanish-American republics has 
been the disposition of some of them to 
interfere in one another's affairs. On ac- 
count of the essential similarity among 
them, it has often been possible to prepare 
expeditions in one state for the purpose of 
overthrowing the government of another. 
This has given rise to numerous colli- 
sions and to the creation of a sharp resent- 
ment, not so much between the peoples 
themselves, as. between a president, whose 
position was threatened, and another presi- 
dent who might be protecting his enemy. 
Ease of alliance, furthermore, between the 
political parties of different countries has 



(9^- LATIN AMERICA 

been apt to make domestic politics a matter 
of international concern. 

Although issues of the sort were found in 
the period immediately following indepen- 
dence, when the rulers of the Argentine 
Confederation, Brazil and Paraguay strug- 
gled for control over the destinies of Uruguay, 
and later, between 1865 and 1870, when 
Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine Repub- 
lic engaged in a frightful war with Paraguay, 
which killed off most of the male population 
of that country, the chief center of disturb- 
ance has been located in Central America. 
Both because and in spite of numerous 
efforts made to restore the federal system, 
the relations among the five little republics 
in this area have often been far from pleas- 
ant. The states usually involved in quarrels 
have been Guatemala, Honduras and Nicara- 
gua. Salvador has been less concerned in 
them, and Costa Rica, least of all. How- 
ever, the holding of a peace conference at 
Washington, in 1907, under the auspices 
of the United States and Mexico, and the 
measures which have followed it, such as the 
establishment of an international court and 
of periodical conferences for the adjustment 
of matters' in dispute, encourage the hope that 
such disorders will soon be a thing of the past. 

In the diplomatic world at large the 
Latin- American republics appear to occupy 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 99 

a somewhat anomalous position. As one 
of their own writers has recently observed: 
they are "situated on the margin of inter- 
national life, in a zone where no one either 
denies or affirms their individuality." This 
fact became apparent soon after they had 
won their independence, and gave rise to a 
series of plans to provide for the republics 
as a whole an international representation 
that might inspire greater respect and con- 
fidence. 

The earliest manifestation of an idea of 
this kind was the holding at Panama, in 
1826, of a congress called by Bolivar to 
convince the nations of continental Europe 
that the republics of Latin America should 
be recognized as independent states. Though 
various attempts for the purpose of bringing 
the countries into closer political connec- 
tion were made even as late as 1865, the 
Congress of Panama, in fact, was the nearest 
approach to a confederation that they have 
ever known. 

That the Latin Americans should resent 
the attitude occasionally shown them by the 
great powers of the world is only natural, 
and is finding constant expression. In their 
opinion, size, numbers and wealth should 
not be regarded as alone entitling nations 
to due recognition. If they are equally 
sovereign and independent, they are equally 



100 LATIN AMERICA 

worthy of respect and consideration. Such 
being the case, the repubhcs of Latin America 
should be treated by the great states of the 
world precisely on the same footing of 
mutual esteem as those states treat one 
another. 

Assuming that what they assert as their 
national rights are respected, the Latin- 
American countries have been ardent ex- 
ponents of the principle of international 
arbitration. The Argentine Republic and 
Chile have furnished the first and only ex- 
ample of the realization of the essential 
purpose underlying the meeting of the first 
peace conference at The Hague, by agree- 
ing, in 1902, on a limitation of armaments. 
Thorough accord, also, resting in part on the 
basis of arbitration, exists among the three 
great states, the Argentine Republic, Brazil 
and Chile, and is revealed in an international 
understanding, popularly referred to as the 
"A, B,C Alliance." 

Apart from the processes of adjusting 
a few boundary disputes between Great 
Britain and France, on the one side, and 
certain Latin-American countries the terri- 
tories of which adjoin the colonial possessions 
of those powers, on the other, the inter- 
national differences affecting the relations 
between the Latin-American republics and 
European states have had to do mainly 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 101 

with two matters. These are: the attempts 
of such states to acquire territory or do- 
minion at the expense of the republics in 
question, and the disputes concerning the 
settlement of pecuniary claims. 

Taking advantage of the plight in which 
the United States found itself between 1861 
and 1865, Spain proceeded to occupy the 
Dominican Republic, and to take possession 
of certain islands off the coast of Peru in 
the possible hope of reconquering that 
country. Though in 1865 Spain relinquished 
its hold on both of these areas, it became 
involved in a war with Chile and Peru in 
the following year, which ended in its dis- 
comfiture. From 1862 to 1867, also, the 
forces of Napoleon III of France controlled 
Mexico in the interests of what that monarch 
hoped would be practically an extension of 
the French Empire of the time, and left the 
country only after the United States had 
begun to mass troops on the Mexican border. 

Most of the difficulties that have arisen 
between Latin-American countries and Euro- 
pean nations, however, have been connected 
with efforts to settle pecuniary claims. 
From 1820 onward the republics have been 
large borrowers from European states, and 
from Great Britain in particular. Conces- 
sions, moreover, have been obtained by 
Europeans, which, because of disturbed 



LATIN AMERICA 

political and financial conditions, could 
not always be made effective. This has 
resulted in the non-payment of loans, in 
undue delay in the payment of principal and 
interest, in the personal injury of foreigners, 
or in the seizure or destruction of their 
property. Though all of the republics 
have been involved at one time or another 
in disputes of the sort, the lands in and 
around the Caribbean Sea, and of late years 
particularly Venezuela, the Dominican Re- 
public, Haiti, Guatemala, Nicaragua and 
Honduras, have been the centers of conflict. 
Since the constitutions of their respective 
countries usually grant to foreigners the 
same civil rights and privileges as those 
given to native born or naturalized citizens, 
Latin- American publicists hold that foreign 
nations are not entitled to demand that 
the procedure to be followed in case of dispute 
should be any different from that which 
those nations would observe as between 
their own respective citizens. That is to 
say, if a foreigner, residing or having inter- 
ests in any one of the republics, suffers in- 
jury in person or property, he should make 
use of the same measures of redress as a native 
or naturalized citizen would, by appealing 
to the national courts. Were it proved that 
such courts, for any reason, could not, or 
would not, afford substantial justice, then. 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 103 

and then only, should the foreigner have 
recourse to diplomatic intervention. If 
adjustment by this means should fail also, 
the final remedy ought to be sought for in 
arbitration. Force, according to the so- 
called "Drago Doctrine" of 1902, should 
never be employed among nations for the 
collection of contractual debts. 

On his part, the concessionaire has often 
taken the stand that, in countries where 
the judges were controlled by the president 
or congress, or at all events did not enjoy 
judicial independence, the courts were ob- 
viously unable or unwilling to treat foreigners 
fairly. He would then appeal to his own gov- 
ernment for redress. This has been secured, 
not only by means of diplomacy and arbi- 
tration, but by displays of force. Warships 
have been sent to overawe the ojffending 
countries, their ports have been blockaded, 
their vessels seized and their seaports bom- 
barded. On rare occasions their ports and 
custom-houses have been occupied, but never 
for a great length of time, because of the fact 
that any action of the kind was regarded 
by the United States as a violation of the 
Monroe Doctrine. 

With the Latin-American republics situ- 
ated in general between the Rio Grande and 
the Amazon, the relations of the United 
States have been very different from those 



104 LATIN AMERICA 

which it has maintained with the countries 
lying to the south of the Amazon; and the 
circumstance goes far to show that these south- 
ern lands have had a much closer connection 
with Europe. While its relationship with 
the former group is marked by a number of 
striking events and decisive acts, directed 
throughout by a fairly continuous and steady 
policy, that with the latter group has been 
somewhat vague, intermittent and incon- 
clusive. 

The attitude of the United States in these 
respects has been determined chiefly by 
two considerations. Of these, one is the 
question of distance. With its neighbors 
around the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of 
Mexico the degree of intimacy, naturally, 
would be closer than in the case of those 
found to the southward. It might be said, 
also, that the communities located within 
this area, which have a population largely of 
Indian, negro and mixed descent, are not Euro- 
pean in the sense in which the republics lying 
in the southern part of South America are. 

Broadly considered, the relations of the 
United States with the republics of Latin 
America, and especially with those of the 
region lying to the north of the Amazon, 
have concerned the determination of boun- 
daries, the prevention of filibustering, the 
acquisition of territory and the furnishing 



INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 105 

of assistance in the formation of new re- 
publics. They have had to do with the pro- 
tection of American citizens and their prop- 
erty, the preservation of order, the offering 
of mediation between belhgerent countries, 
and the enforcement of the Monroe Doc- 
trine. They have included, furthermore, the 
maintenance of headship among the inde- 
pendent nations of America, and the pro- 
motion of "Pan- Americanism" — the recog- 
nition of a similarity of problems and inter- 
ests among those nations, which suggests 
cooperation for their effective solution. 

Not considerations of the Monroe Doc- 
trine so much as the desire and purpose to 
maintain its political preponderance in the 
Western Hemisphere, to promote its commer- 
cial aggrandizement, and to strengthen 
throughout the Latin-American countries a 
sense of inter-American solidarity, have 
shaped the major part of the policy of the 
United States toward them, more particu- 
larly in recent years. To these several ends, 
notably in the Caribbean region, it has ac- 
quired naval stations, and has negotiated 
for others. It has asserted its right to sole 
ownership in any waterway to be con- 
structed between the two oceans. 

In that region and even farther to the 
southward, the United States has intervened 
in the internal affairs of Latin-American 



106 LATIN AMERICA 

nations, to maintain order, to insure fair 
elections, to rehabilitate finances, to enforce 
rules of sanitation and to investigate reports 
of ill-treatment of Indians. In fact, it has 
introduced into supposedly independent and 
sovereign states a kind of political tutelage 
unknown elsewhere in the world. 

So as to promote the idea of "Pan-Ameri- 
canism," the United States inaugurated, in 
1889, what is known officially as the "In- 
ternational Conference of American States, " 
and popularly as the "Pan-American Con- 
ference," composed of delegates from all of 
the independent nations of the New World. 
With the cooperation of the Latin-American 
republics, also, it established at Washington, 
in the same year, an international office, 
now called the "Pan-American Union," 
for the diffusion of information that would 
tend to tighten the bonds of friendship among 
them. Although the conference in question 
is an assembly of deliberation and proposi- 
tion only, the conventions and resolutions, 
which it has passed at its periodical meetings 
since 1889, have been framed with the pur- 
pose of suggesting to the governments 
of the countries concerned a course of action 
on given points, which might be helpful 
in solving many of the difficulties that con- 
front the process of advancement toward 
national welfare. 



GEOGRAPHY 107 

CHAPTER X 

GEOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES 

The twenty republics of Latin America 
stretch over an area of nine million square 
miles, or approximately three times that of 
the United States. Brazil alone is larger 
than that country, and the Argentine Re- 
public nearly two thirds as large. Bolivia 
and Venezuela could each contain two 
states the size of Texas, and have plenty of 
room to spare; Chile, two the size of Cali- 
fornia; and Ecuador, all of New England, 
plus New York and New Jersey. Mexico 
is seven times as large as Italy. Two German 
Empires could be put into Colombia, and 
France, Austria-Hungary and the German 
Empire, also, into Peru. 

Among the smaller countries, the three 
island republics together are almost as large 
as the State of Minnesota, and Uruguay 
is about equal in area to North Dakota. 
The six Central-American republics, in- 
cluding Panama, taken together, are not far 
from double the size of Great Britain and 
Ireland; and Paraguay is nearly twice as large 
as England, Wales and Scotland combined. 

Brazil occupies more than half of the con- 
tinent of South America. It stretches along 
the Atlantic seaboard nearly 6,000 miles. 



108 LATIN AMERICA 

and its frontiers touch those of every South 
American country with the exception of 
Chile. Though Chile is about 3,000 miles 
long, it has an average breadth of scarcely 
seventy miles. Bolivia and Paraguay are 
the only republics that lie wholly inland. 
Salvador, the smallest of the Latin-American 
countries, is about one haK the size of Swit- 
zerland, and is the only state of Central 
America which does not reach from ocean to 
ocean. 

The continent of South America itself 
extends some 2,600 miles to the eastward of 
New York, and the southern part of it, on 
the Atlantic side, lies practically as near 
to Europe as it does to the United States. 
The vast interior, covering possibly two 
million square miles, has yet to be fully 
explored. 

Though the island republics are provided 
with excellent harbors, so much cannot be 
said of the shores of the Caribbean Sea in 
general. Along the entire circuit of this 
"American Mediterranean," a distance of 
12,000 miles, or nearly half the circumfer- 
ence of the globe, roadsteads exposed to 
fierce gales are the rule, and even Vera 
Cruz is far from safe. The best ports of 
Mexico, in fact, are found on the Pacific 
side. Along the west coast of South America 
most of the harbors are also very poor. 



GEOGRAPHY 109 

though much has been done of late years to 
render the Chilean port of Vaparaiso safer 
and more commodious than it formerly 
was. 

Good harbors on the Atlantic coast of 
South America are quite numerous. That of 
Rio de Janeiro is probably the finest and 
most beautiful in the world. Buenos Ayres, 
though a river port, has been made of great 
value through an elaborate system of stone 
docks, and Montevideo has been much 
improved by a series of extensive harbor 
works. Landing facilities, as a rule, through- 
out the Latin-American countries, are in- 
comparably better on the Atlantic seaboard 
than they are on the Pacific side. 

In the island republics, in Mexico and in 
the states of Central America the climate at 
sea level averages 80 degress in summer and 
falls to 72 degrees in winter. Costa Rica 
is probably the healthiest tropical country 
in Latin America. Throughout the region 
lying between central Mexico, on the one 
part, and northern Chile, the Argentine 
Republic and southern Brazil, on the other, 
climatic conditions are determined by alti- 
tude rather than by nearness or remoteness 
to the equator. In the mountainous areas, 
which here predominate, exclusive of most 
of Brazil, the zones of temperature are 
arranged more or less in vertical order. 



110 LATIN AMERICA 

and may be described as the hot, temperate, 
cold and frigid. Above the altitude of 
about 8,000 feet, mountain-sickness 
("soroche" or "puna") is not uncommon. 

Since latitude is neutralized by elevation, 
many of the plateaus in what are ordinarily 
regarded as tropical countries have a 
delightful climate, corresponding in tempera- 
ture to the spring and autumn of the tem- 
perate zone; and the extremes of winter and 
summer are practically unknown. The al- 
ternating seasons, following the regular 
course of the sun, are determined by the 
varying degrees of moisture and dryness, 
rather than by those of heat and cold. The 
wet seasons are the summers, and the dry 
seasons the winters. Were one to stand on 
the equator and then go up into the moun- 
tains one mile, the temperature and the vege- 
tation found there would be substantially 
the same as those of regions 1,500 miles due 
north or south of the equator, and if two miles 
upward, about the same as those prevalent 
in areas 2,500 miles north or south of that 
line. 

With the exception, therefore, of the lands 
lying along the sea coast and of the central 
portion of South America, notably of parts 
of Brazil, the climate of the Latin-American 
countries situated between the two tropics 
is not universally hot, or even warm. In 



GEOGRAPHY 111 

the far southern part of South America it 
ranges from temperate to cold. South of the 
equator, of course, the seasons are more or 
less the reverse of what they are to the 
north of that line; so that when it is summer 
in New York, for example, it is winter in 
Buenos Ayres. 

The Atlantic slopes of Latin America, ex- 
posed to the eastern trade winds, have a 
rainfall about double that on the Pacific 
side. On the shore of the republics lying 
north of South America, also, the tides vary 
considerably with the seasons. At Panama, 
for instance, on the Pacific side, they are 
much higher than they are at Colon on the 
Caribbean-Atlantic side. On the former 
they are about as high in feet as they are 
on the latter in inches. 

In South America the trade winds, setting 
steadily from east to west, sweep up the 
valley of the Amazon till they encounter 
the eastern slopes of the Andes. Here the 
moisture-laden clouds discharge most of their 
contents in rain or snow. As they pro- 
gress still farther westward across the pla- 
teaus and summits, the winds become cold 
and dry, and hardly a drop of rain falls 
along the central portion of the west coast. 
In this area moisture in the shape of a very 
humid fog or vapor furnishes the rather 
scanty vegetation with a certain amount of 



11^ LATIN AMERICA 

nourishment during the winter season, from 
May to December. 

Taking the republics of Latin America as a 
whole, the conditions of health are far better 
than is commonly supposed. Though yellow 
fever, malaria and contagious diseases are 
found at times in the tropical areas, the vig- 
orous campaigns carried on against the mos- 
quito and other agencies of infection have 
shown very gratifying results. Among the 
poorer classes, however, in the crowded sec- 
tions of the cities and in many of the country 
districts, ignorance of the elementary prin- 
ciples of hygiene is often productive of 
a high death rate, especially in the case of 
children less than five years of age. 

In the island republics the surface of the 
land ranges from hilly to mountainous. 
On the continents, all the way from Mexico 
to the Straits of Magellan, runs a series of 
mountain chains, breaking up in the extreme 
south into numerous islands. The mean 
altitude of the Andes, the giant range that 
forms the backbone of western South America, 
is about 14,000 feet, and, next to the Himal- 
aya, is the loftiest range in the world. Its 
higher peaks rise between 15,000 feet and 
23,000 feet above sea level. South of Vene- 
zuela and in the eastern and southern areas 
of Brazil, the various mountain ranges are 
considerably lower, their mean altitude in 



GEOGRAPHY 113 

the latter country being anywhere between 
4,000 and 5,000 feet. 

In Mexico, Central America and northwest- 
ern South America there are hundreds of 
volcanoes, active and extinct, disposed either 
in groups or in a long line of cones and craters. 
Ecuador, in particular, has a veritable 
"avenue of volcanoes," the magnitude and 
sublimity of which are probably unequaled in 
the world. Throughout this region, and 
even southward into Chile, where the smok- 
ing mountains, for the most part, have been 
long since quiescent, earthquakes are apt 
to be frequent. 

Vast table-lands stretch over central Mex- 
ico and over the countries of northwestern 
South America. In Bolivia they are sur- 
passed in extent and altitude only by the 
plateau of Tibet. Here and elsewhere in the 
mountain areas are found some of the 
most loftily situated capitals in the worJd. 
The scenery , especially in the valley and table- 
land of Mexico, is wondrously beautiful 
and picturesque. 

In the central portion of the Argentine 
Republic are found the vast, almost treeless, 
grass-grown plains, known as the "pampas." 
Eastward through Uruguay and southern 
Brazil the land becomes rolling, but has 
much the same sort of vegetation. 

Few of the republics are provided with 



114 LATIN AMERICA 

lakes of any size. Those of Guatemala, 
Nicaragua, Mexico, the southern part of 
Chile, the Argentine Republic and Brazil are 
noteworthy; but none of them compares 
with Lake Titicaca on the heights of Bolivia. 
The loftiest body of water in the world, it 
lies upward of 12,000 feet above the level 
of the sea, and covers an area of 3,300 square 
miles, or somewhat less than half the ex- 
tent of Lake Ontario. 

Except for the Rio Grande, forming part 
of the boundary between Mexico and the 
United States, and the Colorado, which pene- 
trates for a short distance into Mexico 
also, none of the Latin republics of North 
American has any large rivers. Most of the 
rivers, in fact, are merely coast streams with 
short, rapid courses, and are unfit for navi- 
gation. 

In South America the situation is alto- 
gether different. Here are many mighty 
rivers, such as the Amazon, the Parana, 
Paraguay and River Plate system, the 
Orinoco and the Magdalena. Brazil, in 
particular, is covered with a vast intricate 
net- work of streams, most of which are afflu- 
ents of the Amazon. The drainage area of 
this river and its tributaries extends over 
2,970,000 square miles, and the volume of 
water that they discharge annually into the 
ocean is probably five times as much as that 



GEOGRAPHY 115 

of the Mississippi. Vessels of small draught 
can go up the Amazon proper more than 
3,600 miles. The river system, as a whole, 
furnishes about 27,000 miles of navigable 
waterways. Despite the fact that the 
affluents, in many cases, are obstructed by 
rapids and falls, it affords the most elabo- 
rate and economical means of transportation 
to be found anywhere in the world. 

The drainage areas of the Parana, Para- 
guay, River Plate and Uruguay amount 
to about 1,200,000 square miles, and by the 
Paraguay vessels can navigate clear up into 
the very heart of Brazil. The estuary of the 
River Plate, formed by the junction of the 
Parana and the Uruguay, pours out more 
water into the ocean than any other river 
in America, except the Amazon. Next 
in order comes the Orinoco, with a drainage 
area of 364,500 square miles, and the Mag- 
dalena, the fourth largest river in Latin 
America, along with its numerous affluents, 
drains about 100,000 square miles. In 
the extreme south of the southern conti- 
nent lies still another waterway, the Straits 
of Magellan, which have a total length of 
340 miles. 

All of the republics possess streams, the 
falls and rapids of which make possible the 
use on a large scale of hydro-electric plants 
to supply power. In this source of energy 



116 LATIN AMERICA 

Brazil stands foremost, especially in the 
southern part of the country. The falls of 
the Iguazii, for example, flowing into the 
upper Parana, range over an area of more 
than two miles, with a total fall of 320 
feet; and there are many others of tremen- 
dous volume. 

In the island republics, indigenous animals, 
reptiles and birds are few in comparison 
with those of the neighboring mainlands. 
Mexico is a region of transition between the 
northern and southern continents; but here, 
as well as in the countries of Central America, 
the variety of birds and reptiles is almost as 
large as that of the tropical areas in central 
South America. One of the most beautiful 
of the birds is the quetzal of Guatemala, a 
species of parrot. A bird of freedom, it 
never survives captivity, even when taken 
during early life. In Aztec times its plumage 
was reserved for royalty. 

In the mountainous regions of western 
South America are found several species of 
the "American camel." These are the 
llama, vicuna, alpaca and guanaco, which 
supply an excellent quality of wool. Here, 
also, flying over the Andean heights is found 
the condor, or so-called "South American 
eagle," a huge bird resembling the vulture. 

Brazil and the areas of the Spanish- 
American republics immediately bordering 



RESOURCES 117 

on it teem with animal life of extraordinary- 
variety, including the jaguar, and other mem- 
bers of the feline tribe, the ant-eater, the tapir 
and the peccary, reptiles of nearly every de- 
scription, and huge snakes. Monkeys are well- 
nigh innumerable. Among them is the soci- 
able order of howling monkeys, who perform 
their musical feats under the direction of 
a chief howler. Almost one sixth of all the 
birds of the world are found in Brazil alone. 
Here, also, are countless varieties of insects, 
venomous and otherwise; and more than 
1,800 species of fish swim in its rivers and 
lakes. 

When estimating the value of the natural 
resources of the Latin-American states, one 
must take into account certain obstacles 
that lie in the way of their development. 
There are vast stretches of waste land, es- 
pecially in the mountainous areas; and in the 
tropical sections there are huge swamps and 
miasmic forests as well. The resources, fur- 
thermore, are often inaccessible because of 
poor facilities of transportation. If rail- 
ways were to be built, the engineering 
difficulties presented at times would make 
the construction so costly as to destroy the 
possibility of ultimate profit. Despite these 
obstacles, the wealth in mines, forests and 
soil is astounding, and even now is only just 
beginning to be made useful to mankind. 



118 LATIN AMERICA 

Though practically all of the republics 
are rich in mineral substances, Mexico, 
Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Peru and southern 
Brazil are the chief mining centers. Mexico 
is noted for its silver, copper, iron, petro- 
leum, precious and semi-precious stones 
and gold; Colombia, for its platinum and 
emeralds; Bolivia, for its tin, silver, copper 
and bismuth; Chile, for its nitrate of soda, 
copper, salt, sulphur and coal; Peru, for 
its silver, copper and petroleum; and southern 
Brazil, to a much less extent, for its diamonds, 
gold, iron and coal. Among the republics 
of Central America, Honduras contains 
probably the largest mineral deposits. Vene- 
zuela is richly stored with asphalt. Many 
of the states, particularly Mexico and 
Peru, are supplied with excellent mineral 
springs. 

So far as forest products are concerned, 
nearly every country of Latin America 
abounds in trees of the most varied utility. 
Mahogany, rosewood, ebony and other cab- 
inet woods, and timber of extraordinary 
hardness and durability, are scattered 
through the tropical areas. Brazil, however, 
is the one that possesses the richest and 
most beautiful flora. 

From Latin America probably more eco- 
nomic plants and vegetable substances in 
general have been derived than from any 



RESOURCES 119 

other quarter of the globe. Vast quantities 
of rubber are available in western and 
northern Brazil, in the adjoining areas of 
the Spanish-American republics, such as 
Peru, Colombia and Bolivia, and in Mexico, 
where numerous substitutes for it, like 
"guayule, " have also been discovered. Trop- 
ical fruits of every sort, sugar-cane, tobacco 
and cotton are profuse in their distribution, 
Cuba alone being the greatest producer of 
sugar-cane in the world. The same is true 
of several of the "beverage plants" of the 
commoner sort, like the coffee of Brazil, 
Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia and Mex- 
ico; the cacao of Brazil, Ecuador, the Do- 
minican Republic, Venezuela and Haiti; 
and the "yerba," or Paraguay tea, of that 
country and the neighboring districts of 
the Argentine Republic and Brazil. 

Vegetable silk (Paraguay); coca (Bolivia 
and Peru), from which cocaine is made and 
the leaves of which are chewed by the 
natives to relieve fatigue; gums, resins and 
oleaginous plants in general, sarsaparilla, 
cinchona bark, which is the source of quin- 
ine (Peru and Bolivia); "Peruvian" balsam 
(Salvador), dye-woods, ivory nuts (Ecuador 
and Colombia) , from which buttons, gaming- 
counters and the like are manufactured; 
and "chicle" (Mexico) which is the chief in- 
gredient in chewing gum, are among the 



120 LATIN AMERICA 

vegetable substances that grow in great 
profusion. To them may be added "hene- 
quen" and "ixtle" (Mexico), which are 
fibrous plants useful in the manufacture 
of cordage; the vanilla bean; "maguey," a 
generic name for some thirty-three species 
of cacti (Mexico), which provide food, drink, 
and clothing for the poorer folk; "toquilla" 
(Ecuador), the straw from which Panama 
hats are made; many varieties of spices, 
breadfruit, manioc, yams, Brazil nuts, essen- 
tial oils for the manufacture of perfumery, 
and the wax-palm (Brazil), extraordinary in 
the number of its uses. 

Cereals of every description flourish in 
the temperate and sub-tropical areas of all 
the Latin-American republics, and cattle, 
sheep and horses thrive on their grassy 
savannas; but the great agricultural and 
grazing areas lie in southern South America. 
Here the Argentine Republic is easily 
foremost. Out in the "camp," as the 
open country is called, lies an absolutely 
enormous expanse of fertile land yielding 
alfalfa, and other forage grasses in practically 
unlimited quantities, a region in which the 
mild climate enables cattle, sheep and horses 
to live in the pastures throughout the year. 
Uruguay, its little neighbor to the eastward, 
is also famed for its cattle, though agri- 
pulture is encroaching on the grazing grounds^ 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 121 

The same is true in a measure of south- 
western Brazil. In Chile and the western 
part of the Argentine Republic the vine is 
cultivated with great success. 



CHAPTER XI 

SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 

In Latin America the larger republics, 
and a few of the smaller ones, are more 
thinly settled for their areas than any other 
part of the world, and . their growth of 
population has been proportionately less 
rapid. Were Brazil as densely peopled as 
Belgium, it would contain more than all the 
inhabitants of the earth. Salvador, on the 
other hand, though the tiniest of all the 
states, is the most populous for its size. 

In most of the countries statistics of popu- 
lation, whenever obtainable at all, are quite 
unreliable. Outside of the Argentine Repub- 
lic, Chile and Uruguay, where the figures 
are fairly accurate, the census is not taken 
regularly, or with the same degree of care, 
as in the United States and the principal 
countries of Europe. Expecially is this true 
of the republics in which the Indian, negro 
and mixed population is large, and in which 
the material conditions are comparatively 
backward. Here m any of the people of that 



122 LATIN AMERICA 

order are afraid of possible taxation and mil- 
itary service; accordingly they either run 
away from the census-taker, or else refuse 
to answer his questions. 

These are not the only difficulties in the way 
of enumeration and classification. On ac- 
count of the practice of giving census re- 
turns for townships (comarcas), which often 
comprise extensive rural districts, it is not 
always easy to ascertain the precise popu- 
lation of cities and towns as such. Nor is 
the census-taker usually careful to distin- 
guish among fine, transitional types of race. 
The expression "white," as employed in the 
official language of the returns, is apt to have 
a rather elastic interpretation; so that, even if 
the white strain is very small, the individuals 
concerned may be listed as "white." 

According to the way in which the nations 
of the world are now constituted, a fairly 
clear indication of their economic circum- 
stances is given in most cases from the pro- 
portion of urban to rural population. Tak- 
ing the Latin-American states as a whole, 
the number of inhabitants found in cities 
and towns, as the centers of trade and 
industry, is small in comparison with the 
number of people scattered over the rural 
districts. In part this is due to vastness of 
territory and in part to the large number of 
Indians, often distributed in small tribal 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 123 

groups over the rural areas; in some measure, 
also, to the undeveloped condition of manu- 
facturing interests, and the consequent 
lack of a numerous working class. During 
recent years, however, particularly in the 
Argentine Republic, the shift from the coun- 
try districts to the towns has become very 
marked. Mexico and Brazil are the two 
countries that contain the greatest number 
of large cities and other municipalities. 

All of the republics display a tendency to 
concentrate a very considerable percentage 
of their population, wealth and culture 
in the national capitals. Yet the countries 
where this threefold concentration is most 
evident are among the ones relatively the 
most advanced. Buenos Ay res, for example, 
contains about one fifth of the entire popula- 
tion of the Argentine Republic, and Santiago, 
approximately one eighth of that of Chile. 

Though modified in some measure by im- 
migration from Europe, and to a much 
smaller degree from the United States and 
Asia, an essential similarity, of course, exists 
among the peoples of the various republics. 
Differences there are, but on the whole 
they appear to be of less import than those 
found between the inhabitants of one pro- 
vince and another in some of the European 
countries. Properly speaking, there is no 
race question in Latin America, because 



124 LATIN AMERICA 

from the colonial period onward the eth- 
nical elements have tended to become 
merged into a new division of mankind. 

In Spanish America at large the three 
main elements, Indian, European and negro, 
are fused, in varying proportions, into 
dominant nationalities of Spanish speech 
and culture, with the white factor in the 
ascendent. Here and there, as for example 
in Peru and Bolivia, the amalgamation is 
far from complete, but it is steadily advanc- 
ing. Even if difficult at times to distinguish 
between full-blood and half-caste natives, 
it is fairly safe to assume that the whites 
are holding their own, that the half-castes 
are increasing, and that the Indians proper 
are either falling off, or else becoming merged 
into the general population. 

Negroes and mulattoes constitute prac- 
tically all of the inhabitants of Haiti. They 
form a great majority of the population, 
also, in the Dominican Republic and a 
very appreciable percentage of the dwellers 
along the coasts of the Central- American 
countries and the southern coast of the 
Caribbean Sea. 

While it is not altogether correct to say 
that the farther south one goes in Latin 
America the whiter the population becomes, 
the generalization is true so far as southern 
South America is concerned. In the northern 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 125 

group of republics, Cuba, and, to a less extent, 
Costa Rica, are the only ones in which the 
white element is large, though the former 
has many negroes and mulattoes and the 
latter a considerable number of Indians and 
"mestizos." In the Argentine Republic, 
Chile and Uruguay, the whites constitute 
the vast majority of the population. What 
there is left of the Indians (possibly 130,000 
in Chile and 50,000 in the Argentine Re- 
public) is in course of elimination; but here, 
as also in Uruguay, it is not unusual to find 
men of Indian features employed as soldiers, 
policemen, firemen and laborers. 

In Brazil, the three elements, white, 
negro and Indian, are merged into a Portu- 
guese-American nationality; but they are 
confined mainly to the Atlantic States, 
between the mouth of the Amazon and the 
city of Rio de Janeiro. From the southern 
area of the country the negro element is 
largely absent, and the Indians there, also, 
are tending to disappear with the strength- 
ening of the whites by immigration from 
Europe. 

As the Indian and negro blood in this part 
of Brazil lessens before the tide of immigra- 
tion, a new ethnic division in Latin America 
may arise. Situated in a fairly temperate 
region, one fourth the size of Europe, a. 
South European stock, capable of almost 



126 LATIN AMERICA 

unlimited expansion, is in process of forma- 
tion. If united at some time in the future 
with the European population of like char- 
acter found in the three Spanish-American 
republics to the westward, it may become 
to constitute a power of the first importance. 

So far as European immigration into the 
various republics is concerned, though still 
insufficient, it is increasing with especial 
rapidity in the southern countries. Among 
the newcomers, outside of those from 
Spain and Portugal, the Italian predominates. 
Then come in order the German, the French, 
the English and a small number of other 
nationalities. Immigration is often fos- 
tered directly by the governments, which 
are disposed to grant very favorable condi- 
tions of transportation and maintenance, in 
addition to supplying lands, livestock, im- 
plements and the like. 

One may readily understand that the Ital- 
ian, the Spaniard, the Portuguese and the 
French would blend easily with peoples, 
like themselves, of Latin origin. The Italian 
and the German, also, are to be encountered 
almost anywhere that foreigners are apt to 
go; but their drift is toward the southern 
republics of the temperate zone. The Ital- 
ian forms a very considerable element in the 
population of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 
in the population of Uruguay, and especially 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 127 

in that of the Argentine Republic. The Ger- 
man is found chiefly in the far southern State 
of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and in southern 
Chile. 

Of the several European colonies, those 
of Latin stock are naturally the most 
popular and influential, and the German is 
not far behind them. The Latin immigrants, 
as a rule, put their fortune into the coun- 
try of their adoption, identify themselves 
with it, and their children become its citizens. 
The Italians furnish the necessary labor in 
cultivating the ground and reaping the 
harvest, in the opening of highways, the 
construction of railways, the building of 
cities, and in the giving of material form 
in general to wealth and civilization. So 
marked has been their influence on the lan- 
guages of the countries in which they are 
most numerous, that the lower classes often 
speak a patois of Spanish or Portuguese and 
Italian. The immigrants from Spain and 
Portugal commonly become small shop- 
keepers. On the other hand, the influence 
of the French is visible in connection with 
thought, art and fashion; theirs is a force 
to embellish life on its social side, for their 
nimaber is too small to affect appreciably 
the size of the population. 

In the Argentine Republic the inhabi- 
tants are less homogeneous than elsewhere 



128 LATIN AMERICA 

in Latin America. Being peculiarly a "land 
of promise" for the European immigrant, 
it has had great difficulty in merging the 
newcomers with the residents of Spanish 
origin into a single nationality. In many 
places the immigrants are massed in ethnic 
communities where they speak their own lan- 
guages, observe their own religious customs, 
maintain their own usages and keep socially 
aloof from the Spanish-speaking people. 

As the Germans have contributed comfort, 
sobriety, solidity and methodical habits 
in business, so the English and the Ameri- 
cans, though few in number, as compared 
with some of the other classes of immigrants, 
have aided the development of national 
wealth by their capital, aroused a liking for 
sports and imparted a tendency to cherish 
the practical side of life. Unlike most of the 
other immigrants, or temporary residents, 
they do not readily assimilate with the 
native population. Americans, of course, 
are found particularly in Mexico, the Central- 
American states and Cuba. The English 
go preferably to the southern republics in 
South America, but they are apt to be almost, 
if not quite, as ubiquitous as the Germans. 
British and German names are very pre- 
valent among those of the leading families 
in Chile. 

The use of the English language, also, is 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 129 

making rapid headway everywhere in Latin 
America, and the growth of English influence 
is more or less commensurate with it. The 
"word of an Englishman" (palabra de ingles) 
is proverbial; bonds and other financial se- 
curities are jocularly referred to as "ingleses" 
(i. e.. Englishmen), and all the native of 
Albion needs, in order to be identified, is 
to "wear a sandy mustache and have a W in 
his name." In these distinctions, also, the 
American is coming to have a share. 

Several of the republics, and in particular 
Brazil, encourage immigration from Japan. 
Along the northwest coast of South America, 
and at various points in Mexico and in the 
countries of Central America, Chinese, as 
well as Japanese, have established themselves. 
In many cases the Chinese were originally 
coolies imported to work on the plantations; 
but not a few of them have since become 
shop-keepers and herb-doctors (herbolarios). 
So far as Brazil is concerned, the Japanese 
have been imported under government con- 
tract to labor on the coffee plantations and to 
devote themselves to rice culture. 

Much of what has been stated as to the 
condition of the Indians in colonial times 
applies to their present situation. In all 
of the continental republics, except some of 
those in southern South America, they may 
be divided roughly into the wild (bravos), 



ISO LATIN AMERICA 

who live as more or less independent tribes, 
and the relatively civilized (mansos), who 
dwell in fixed settlements, profess the Roman 
Catholic religion and speak the European 
language of the country, as well as their own 
native tongue. Though head-hunting still 
survives in a few places, the existence of 
cannibalism, so frequently asserted, is very 
dubious. The story of the answer given by 
an alleged South American cannibal, in reply 
to a query as to why he ate his dead relatives, 
that he thought it was better for them to be 
inside of a warm friend than to be buried in 
the cold earth, savors strongly of a traveler's 
yarn. 

Though it is popular in many parts of 
Latin America to ascribe numerous special 
virtues to Indian ancestors, the whites are 
not always so sentimental in their attitude 
toward the Indians personally. In the case 
of the more educated and distinctly ruling 
class, the feeling of social repulsion toward 
them is about as marked as it was in co- 
lonial times, even if much is being done for 
their education and general welfare. Hardly 
regarded as a member of the body politic, 
except in the language of the constitution, 
which recognizes his freedom of status as a 
citizen, and except that, when able to read 
and write, he is apt to receive greater consid- 
eration, the Indian exercises little influence. 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 131 

as a rule, on the government and destiny 
of the nation of which he forms part. 

Among the picturesque social types of a 
somewhat higher order are the cowboys, of 
white and Indian blood, known in the Argen- 
tine Republic as "gauchos," in Venezuela as 
"llaneros" and elsewhere commonly as 
"vaqueros." Avoiding the cosmopolitan 
life in the towns, their habitat is the plains. 
Fearless riders, dexterous in the use of the 
lasso and knife, they have given a novel- 
esque character to the songs and stories of ad- 
venture. Half savage, ruthless, melancholy 
and taciturn, fond of personal adornment 
in the shape of coin-studded belts and silver 
spurs, they have shed a glamour of romance 
around their lives. With the advance of 
immigration, however, with the spread of 
agriculture and, incidentally, with the use 
of barbed-wire fences on the cattle-ranches, 
they will soon become a figure of the past in 
many a section of country where they were 
once so numerous. 

Except possibly in Salvador, social and 
political power in the Latin-American re- 
publics is seldom in the hands of what in 
other lands would be called the "middle 
class"; although in states like the Argentine 
Republic, Chile, Uruguay, Cuba and Costa 
Rica, a tendency in that direction is growing 
constantly stronger. At the top of the 



132 LATIN^ AMERICA 

social scale stand the great landed pro- 
prietors, the "hacendados," "fazendeiros" 
and "estancieros," the owners of plantations 
and cattle-ranches. Constituting a sort of 
aristocracy, and perpetuating in a measure 
the colonial tradition, the members of this 
class often exercise a more or less feudal 
authority over the dwellers on their huge es- 
tates, and are disposed to look upon France, 
and, in a much less degree, Spain or Portu- 
gal, as their real home, the center of pleasure, 
fashion and ideas. Then come the lawyers, 
engineers, physicians, journalists and other 
professional men, whose tastes and interests 
are far more closely allied with the order just 
named than with the views and practices 
of the great mass of the people below them. 
These are the men who more commonly have 
the actual control of affairs. Foreigners, as 
such, seldom exercise any political influence. 
In many cases these great landed estates 
are a peril to liberty and an obstacle to pro- 
gress. They arose out of colonial grants and 
of liberal donations made on various oc- 
casions in the period following independence. 
Often practically free of taxation, they are 
held by rich families who will not subdivide 
them, and are even directed at times by 
overseers acting as the representatives of 
the absentee owners. Some of these estates 
are as large as European countries. On 



SOCIAL CHAKACTERISTICS 133 

them fabulous numbers of cattle are raised, 
and incredible amounts of agricultural pro- 
duce brought forth, the whole being cared 
for by a veritable army of laborers. Though 
exemplified notably in Mexico, illustrations 
of such concentration of property are found 
elsewhere also. 

Since poor men cannot acquire farms, they 
are forced to work on these estates. In 
the republics where the Indians are numerous 
the wages of the "peones," or common labo- 
rers, are often ridiculously small, and may 
consist in scarcely more than food and drink. 
Living in hovels, and perhaps allowed to 
cultivate little clearings of superfluous rocky 
ground, the "peones" cannot be sure of even 
these holdings, and have suffered eviction 
when their little property has been sold 
against their will. 

Because the "peones" are apt to be im- 
provident, they easily fall into debt. When 
they are unable to meet it, the indebtedness 
is made a charge upon the members of their 
families, the children being forced to inherit 
it. In areas, also, where revolutionary out- 
breaks are more or less frequent, unscrupu- 
lous leaders persuade the "peones" to desert 
their work altogether, by promising to pay 
off their debts, if they agree to join the in- 
surgent bands. Nor is it uncommon in these, 
and other backward sections, for a local 



134 LATIN AMERICA 

governor (jefe politico) to have the laboring 
force of the district quite completely at his 
disposal. Accordingly, if a planter wants 
field-hands to help gather in his harvest, 
he must first cross the palm of that individual, 
otherwise he will get none, and may even lose 
those he already has. 

Unless something is done to break up the 
landed estates of the sort described, to abol- 
ish the evils of peonage and to create small 
peasant proprietorships, the danger of serious 
conflict is very real and pressing. Only by 
securing a permanent foothold on the soil 
can the Indians be brought to a knowledge 
of responsible citizenship, and only by this 
means can the greed for cheap labor be 
checked. Some of the countries, where the 
abuses of peonage are rampant, have made 
an effort to stamp them out, by government 
regulation of contracts and other processes. 

Even in the advanced states, the relation- 
ship existing between an agricultural pro- 
prietor and the native tenants on his estate 
is reminiscent at times of colonial usages. 
On the Chilean "haciendas," or large farms, 
for example, the laborer-tenants (inquilinos) 
work a certain number of days a week for 
the owner in exchange for the use of a cabin 
and piece of ground, and the loan of domestic 
animals. Their surplus produces, also, they 
must sell to the owner, and as long as the 



SOCIAL CHARACTEEISTICS 135 

agreement with him is in force they are not 
allowed to leave the estate without permis- 
sion. In addition to these terms, the "vaqu- 
eros," or cowboys, receive a small wage. 

The Italian and other European laborers 
located in the sparsely settled districts of 
almost any of the republics are apt to find 
that the conditions of life are decidedly 
more primitive than what they had expected. 
Many of the workers, in fact, are of a roving 
character, coming from their native lands 
only for the harvest season. Because of 
the frequent lack of housing and school fa- 
cilities, and of the difficulty of acquiring free- 
hold land in small quantities, they have no 
special inducements to stay in the country. 
The condition of the laboring class in the 
cities and towns, of course, is much better, 
and in the larger centers of trade and indus- 
try the workmen are paid relatively high 
wages. 

Regardless of the particular country to 
which they may belong, the members of the 
dominant classes among the Latin Americans 
have the common characteristics of their 
European ancestors. Affable, kindly and 
courteous, they are alike hospitable, gen- 
erous and forbearing, warm in their friend- 
ships and no less bitter in their enmities. 
High-spirited, quick-minded and sensitive 
to a degree, they expect that the qualities 



136 LATIN AMERICA 

they themselves display will be reflected 
by the people with whom they are brought 
into contact. Brave and courageous, also, 
they are patriotic to the heart's core. 

Though keenly appreciative of humor, 
they rarely use it on public occasions. Won- 
derfully fluent in speech, they choose elo- 
quence as the mode of conveying their 
ideas and sentiments, rather than resort to 
witticism. Irony they scarcely understand 
as a weapon of bloodless offense. Quick to 
resent an injury, and sharply jealous of their 
personal honor, they still make use of dueling 
to settle disputes; but the practice is dying 
out. Vivacious in temperament, they find 
gesticulation a helpful means of facilitat- 
ing expression, even when using the tele- 
phone. They love diversion, are willing to 
make incredible sacrifices for some splendid 
display that will be remembered with a thrill 
of pride, and attach great importance to 
the formalities and ceremonies of social in- 
tercourse. 

Yet in strict justice to the Latin Ameri- 
cans, it must be admitted that they have 
their faults as well as their virtues, the 
fact being quite as apparent to men of their 
own stock as it is to the foreigner. Rarely 
prone to hurry, and not gifted with the 
practical sense, as that term is usually 
understood in the processes of modern in- 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 137 

dustry, they are inclined at times to put off 
until to-morrow what could be done to-day. 
To paraphrase the opinion of one of their 
recent writers: The Latin American, a crea- 
ture of dreams and a victim of neglect, 
brings together all the conditions essential 
to a writer or a musician, and he lacks initi- 
ative. If the American seeks the shortest 
road to a given end, the Latin American 
looks for the pirettiest. Somewhat of a 
dilettante, he is not well adapted to the period 
into which he is born. 

The Latin American, says this writer, 
furthermore, has but a vague notion of the 
type of civilization to which he belongs. 
In general his concept of life has to do with 
his town, his district, his street and his house, 
or, at the utmost, with his particular state. 
The Latin Americans, then, in this opinion, 
are not peoples who have become productive 
as yet of an active, vivid, pulsating life that 
would create, amplify and progress; and he 
thinks that the remedy for this state of 
affairs does not consist in imitating from 
Europe or elsewhere that which ought to rise 
spontaneously. While these shortcomings, 
to the extent that they may actually exist, 
are stated in a somewhat exaggerated fashion 
by the writer in question, their manifestation 
depends largely, of course, on the relative 
stage of advancement in each country. 



138 LATIN AMERICA 

The Latin -American woman is alike charm- 
ing and gracious, and devoted to her home 
and family. If the head of the family rules 
it with a patriarchal simplicity, the relations 
of the various members of it, none the less, 
are regulated by constant courtesy and kind- 
liness. Reverence for parents is a strong 
characteristic of family life. In many cases, 
however, the old spirit of seclusion, inherited 
from Spanish and Portuguese prejudices, 
still survives. While the women move about 
in the world, they rarely take any important 
part in the larger phases of public life. Out- 
side of the home, they find their chief interest 
in religion and in works of charity. 

Families, as a rule, are numerous, and those 
belonging to the wealthier class are so closely 
allied by marriage that social functions are 
often little more than family activities on a 
wider scale. Certain days of the week or 
month are commonly set aside as "dias de 
moda" (fashionable or smart days), on which 
the people, who move in the best society, go 
to the theater or opera, or to watering-places. 
Paris is the model for feminine fashions. 

Young girls are kept under strict surveil- 
lance. Marriages are generally arranged by 
the parents. Young men and young women 
are not permitted to go out together unchap- 
eroned. Among the members of the younger 
generation, however, there is a tendency 



SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS 189 

to set some of these traditional restrictions 
aside. Breach of promise cases are practically 
unknown. In most of the republics civil 
marriage is the rule. Divorce is exceedingly 
rare, Uruguay being the only country that 
has established it under broad conditions. 

Roman Catholicism is the prevailing re- 
ligion in all of the republics, but freedom of 
worship is commonly permitted. The power 
of the Roman Church is probably stronger in 
Ecuador and Colombia than it is in the other 
countries. If not always inclined to more 
than formal observance of religious duties, 
and if many of the intellectual leaders profess 
no religion at all, the Latin Americans are at 
least respectful in their attitude toward it. 

In some of the countries like Brazil, Mexico, 
Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, church 
and state are absolutely separate. Mexico 
also prohibits the existence of monastic 
orders and the acquisition of landed property, 
except necessary buildings, for ecclesiastical 
purposes. Several countries forbid religious 
processions to be held in public. Attendance 
at church service is confined largely to women. 
Depending upon their respective degrees of 
material advancement, holidays, ecclesias- 
tical and otherwise, are quite numerous in the 
various republics. 

So far as social institutions and amuse- 
ments are concerned, it may be said that sev- 



140 LATIN AMERICA 

eral of the Latin-American states can boast 
of superb clubhouses, the most costly and lux- 
urious of which is probably that of the Jockey 
Club at Buenos Ayres. Horse-racing is one 
of the chief diversions, the hippodrome in 
Buenos Ayres being in some respects the 
finest race-course in the world. "Pelota," a 
species of handball, is another favorite sport 
and is played usually by professionals. Bull- 
fights are held in a few of the countries, like 
Mexico, Guatemala and Peru. Cock-fighting 
is an amusement peculiarly of the lower classes. 
Riding, shooting, fencing, yachting, football, 
baseball, polo, golf and tennis, all have their 
advocates. Women rarely participate in any 
of them, except tennis. Gambling, especially 
in connection with horse-racing, is prevalent, 
and playing the lottery practically universal. 
The contrast between the capital cities of 
the larger and more important republics and 
the country towns is often very remarkable. 
While the former are European in aspect, the 
latter commonly retain much that recalls 
colonial days. Such cities as Buenos Ayres, 
Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Montevideo, Mex- 
ico and Havana are of a fine modern type, 
provided with an excellent water supply, with 
sanitary sewerage, a paving system of high 
grade, and equipped with traction and light- 
ing systems of the first order. Buenos Ayres, 
the metropolis of Latin America, with its 



POLITICAL SITUATION 141 

population of about a million and a half, is 
the largest Spanish-speaking city, and the 
second largest Latin city in the world, com- 
ing immediately after Paris, on which in 
many respects it is modeled. Here, and in the 
other large cities, many of the private resi- 
dences are superb in their architecture and 
decoration. The hotel accommodations, also, 
approximate those of the better sort in 
Europe. 

CHAPTER XII 

POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL SITUATION 

Latin-American constitutions are far 
more extensive in scope and provision than 
the Federal Constitution of the United States. 
In fifteen of the republics the form of govern- 
ment outlined by them is unitary, in four 
federal, and in one unitary-federal. That 
so many of the states should have adopted 
the unitary system is a clear evidence of the 
influence of France on their political devel- 
opment. Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and the 
Argentine Republic are the four countries 
that have established the federal arrange- 
ment, and Cuba the one that has blended 
the unitary with the federal. 

In practice the tendency in all of the fed- 
eral republics, except Brazil, is to strengthen 
the unitary element, or, in other words, to 



142 LATIN AIMERICA 

increase the power of the national govern- 
ment. While the various political divisions 
in theory enjoy full rights of local legislation, 
they are commonly disposed to copy, with 
suitable modifications, the legislative enact- 
ments of the central government itself. 
Hence, instead of the conflicts of legal au- 
thority found in other countries where the 
federal arrangement exists, in the Latin- 
American republics of this kind there is a 
more or less uniform system of laws enacted 
imder national direction. j^j 

While the government in all of the states 
is republican in form, it is not always demo- 
cratic in practice, to the extent of being 
immediately representative of the entire 
people. Public opinion as a controlling 
force, in the sense in which the expression 
is understood in the United States and Great 
Britain, is virtually nonexistent. ' News- 
papers, to be sure, exercise some influence. 
Mass-meetings of protest or recommendation, 
also, are occasionally held; but the tendency 
is to regard such manifestations of public 
sentiment as seditious, or, at all events, not in 
accordance with established usage. 

However generous any particular consti- 
tution may be in allowing for the participa- 
tion of the people at large in government, 
the fact remains that, to all intents and pur- 
poses, the Latin-American countries are 



POLITICAL SITUATION 143 

ruled either by a virtual autocrat whose 
effective support comes from certain classes 
and not from the great body of the people 
themselves, or else by a relatively small num- 
ber of persons identified with the interests 
of the wealthy and the well educated. 
Professional men, rather than those con- 
cerned primarily in industrial pursuits, are 
apt to be the dominant factor in politics. 

Possibly the two kinds of actual govern- 
ment in question are the only ones that are 
feasible under present conditions. To es- 
tablish a more liberal system, so long as the 
masses remain uneducated, might be unwise. 
The Latin-American governments, at all 
events, do not appear to rest on the people, 
broadly speaking, but only on the "political" 
people, on that portion of the population 
which is believed to possess the knowledge 
and intelligence needful to enable its members 
to assume an active share in public life. 

Either by the terms of the constitution, 
or in actual practice, then, illiterates are ex- 
cluded from the suffrage. Since a large, 
though varying, percentage of the population 
in all of the republics cannot read or write, 
it follows that a very considerable number of 
the inhabitants of voting age are not allowed 
to participate in the elections. They belong 
almost entirely, of course, to the colored 
races. In the larger cities, where education 



144 LATIN AMERICA 

is well advanced, the voting privilege is quite 
widely diffused; but so much cannot be said 
of the county districts. Here it is necessary 
at times for honest and public-spirited men 
to bring much pressure to bear upon local 
parties and administrators, to insure that 
the dependent classes shall acquire political 
experience, without permitting the poli- 
ticians to use their fighting instinct alone for 
personal ends. 

In many of the republics foreigners are 
given the right to vote at municipal 
elections without having been previously 
naturalized, although this privilege is sub- 
ject to the condition that they possess prop- 
erty, or practice one of the liberal profes- 
sions. A fixed date for elections is unusual. 
They commonly take place on Sunday, the 
polls being located on the porches of churches, 
in school-houses, or even in the open squares. 
Ecclesiastics, as a rule, are excluded from 
public office of any kind. 

Political parties in Latin America display 
a tendency to divide up into numerous 
groups of a more or less organized character. 
In a general sense theymaybe called the" lib- 
eral" and the *' conservative." These ex- 
pressions, however, are subject to a diverse 
classification, and include many phases of 
political thought and personal affiliation, 
varying from country to country, and hence 



POLITICAL SITUATION 145 

impossible to define broadly with any degree 
of precision. 

The liberals and their various subdi- 
visions are supposed to represent the modern 
ideas about democracy and individual lib- 
erty. The conservatives, similarly, are pre- 
sumed either to oppose such ideas altogether, 
or else to favor their restriction, if put into 
practice. More concretely, the issues in poli- 
tics relate to the determination of the ex- 
tent of state or church control over public 
education, or to the views of particular 
leaders. The questions of parceling up 
large estates, of curbing the power of admin- 
istrative officials, of bettering the condition 
of the currency, are all brought up for dis- 
cussion in one country or another. Consid- 
erable difference of opinion, also, prevails 
in regard to the methods of regulating the 
activities of foreign corporations. 

In the Latin-American republics, politics 
is an art that is assiduously cultivated, and 
those who practice it know how "to play the 
game." Even political history, for purposes 
of discussion, is regarded usually as present, 
and hence controversial, politics. On the 
other hand, it is true that whole parties, no 
less than individuals, abstain from voting, 
either because of lack of interest, or because 
of a belief that the elections cannot be carried 
to suit them. In municipal, and sometimes 



146 LATIN AMERICA 

in national, elections the number of those cast- 
ing a ballot is extremely small. Secret voting 
is the exception, and not the rule. 

A few of the republics have undertaken 
to remedy these defects. The Argentine 
Republic, for example, has prescribed an 
absolutely secret ballot, compulsory voting 
for all persons entitled to the suffrage, and a 
system of the minority representation as 
well. Such reforms, when put into operation, 
have lessened venality and have induced 
parties or factions, hitherto abstaining, to 
take part in the elections. They have over- 
come, also, the disposition of many of the 
individual voters to neglect the performance 
of their political duties. 

The term of office fixed by the constitu- 
tions of the Latin-American states for the 
president varies from four years to seven, 
the period first named being by far the com- 
monest. It is frequently provided that the 
president shall not be elected to succeed 
himself; and in some cases no near relative 
of a retiring president may be chosen to 
succeed him. Occasionly a restriction is 
found, forbidding an army officer in active ser- 
vice to be elected president or even a mem- 
ber of congress. As a rule the president is 
chosen by some sort of an electoral college or 
by the congress, and not by the people at 
large. With him a vice-president, and some- 



POLITICAL SITUATION 147 

times two vice-presidents, are associated. 
The vice-president replaces the president 
in case of absence or disability, and 
ordinarily presides over the upper house 
of the congress. Where there are two vice- 
presidents, one is kept in reserve, as it were, 
to provide for emergencies. 

The president is usually a civilian; but in 
countries where political education has not 
advanced very far, it is often deemed wiser 
to intrust the executive authority to a sol- 
dier. Throughout Latin America his power 
and prestige are apt to be rather greater 
than that of the president of the United 
States, and the treatment accorded him is 
more ceremonious. 

In the performance of his duties the presi- 
dent is assisted by a cabinet of ministers, who 
are placed in charge of the several branches 
of administration, and in some cases are per- 
mitted to have seats in congress, but usually 
without vote. Several of the republics pro- 
vide, in addition, a council of government 
or state to cooperate with the president, 
give him the benefit of its advice, and other- 
wise to share in the administration. As in 
France and other European countries, the 
cabinets in the Latin-American republics 
are apt to be unstable, but the fact does not 
appear to interfere seriously with the pro- 
cesses of government. 



148 LATIN AMERICA 

Except a few of the smaller ones, all of 
the republics have a national congress com- 
posed of two houses, called usually the Sen- 
ate and the Chamber of Deputies. The 
smaller states in question content themselves 
with one house. In the few countries 
where the federal system prevails, the sena- 
tors are chosen by the state or provincial 
legislatures, and the composition of the Sen- 
ate is removed periodically. In the much 
larger number, where the unitary form is in 
existence, they are chosen by electoral col- 
leges, or by the people of the provinces or 
departments, or are even appointed by the 
president. The members of the Chamber of 
Deputies, however, are elected immediately 
by the voters of the various political divi- 
sions and, in rare instances, their member- 
ship is removed in the same fashion as that 
of the Senate. In some republics substitute 
members of Congress are elected at the same 
time as the regular ones, to take the places of 
the latter in case of absence or disability. 

Property qualifications, or the exercise of 
some liberal profession, are usually de- 
manded of candidates for the presidency and 
for membership in congress. As a rule the 
representation in the legislative body is of 
a general rather than of a local character, 
the idea being that, in order to represent 
the people, it is not necessary for a congress- 



POLITICAL SITUATION 149 

man to reside in the district from which he 
is chosen. Persons actually living in the 
capital city are frequently elected to repre- 
sent even distant provinces. The laws of 
the various countries are regularly pub- 
lished in official gazettes. 

So far as the federal republics are con- 
cerned, substantially the same distinctions 
exist between the federal courts and the 
state courts as those found in the United 
States; elsewhere the judicial system is 
national in character, and all courts are under 
the control of the general government. In 
no republic, however, do the federal or na- 
tional courts possess either the degree of 
independence or the right to interpret and 
apply the constitution to the extent 
enjoyed by the Supreme Court of the 
United States. The judicial power in Latin 
America, accordingly, is more or less subor- 
dinate to the executive and legislative au- 
thority. Under the unitary system the 
judges are appointed by the president, 
or elected by congress. The same is 
true, also, of the countries that have the 
federal form of government, except that the 
state or provincial judges are named by 
the local authorities. 

The system of jurisprudence in the Latin- 
American republics is based on the Roman 
law, the Spanish and Portuguese codes and 



150 LATIN AMERICA 

the Code Napoleon, as revised to meet the 
requirements in each case. Most of the legal 
enactments are in codified form, and relate 
to civil procedure, penal offenses, commer- 
cial usages and mining privileges. Trial by- 
jury is rarely, if ever, used in civil cases, 
and is far from being universal even in 
those relating to crime. 

In most of the republics military service 
is obligatory, but the privilege of purchas- 
ing exemption is also common. Several of 
the South American states, such as Chile, 
the Argentine Republic, Brazil and Bolivia, 
have adopted the German system, and Ger- 
man officers train their respective armies. 
Outside of the first three of the republics 
named, none of the countries of Latin Amer- 
ica possesses a navy of any consequence. 
In those republics the naval service is or- 
ganized largely on the English model, and 
of late they have been considerably increas- 
ing their armaments. 

Nearly all of the countries struggle under 
a heavy burden of debt, and not a few of 
them find great difficulty in meeting their 
financial obligations. By far the greater 
part of the debt has been contracted in 
Europe for the purpose of developing natural 
resources, and often to an extent for which 
the nations concerned were ill-prepared. In 
many cases, also, the burden has been in- 



FINANCIAL SITUATION 151 

creased by the unfortunate point of view of 
the representatives of one government or 
another, that it was humiliating for a coun- 
try to offer sufficient security, preferring to 
pay high rates of interest rather than to 
offer to the foreign capitahst any direct con- 
trol over the national sources of income. 
States like the Argentine Republic, Chile, 
Brazil and Uruguay now enjoy a high credit 
in European banking circles, and most 
of the others are making earnest efforts to 
reduce their indebtedness by fair and hon- 
orable means. 

Taxation as a rule is heavy. In addition 
to import and export duties and to excise 
taxes, many of the smaller or more back- 
ward countries resort to government mo- 
nopolies of such commodities as spirituous 
liquors, salt, tobacco and stamped paper, 
for the purpose of raising revenue. This 
circumstance, taken in connection with the 
general inadequacy of home manufactures, 
explains in some measure why the scale of 
prices for many articles of common con- 
sumption is so high. 

The currency question i§ often a serious 
one. Where the gold standard prevails, as 
it does in less than half of the republics, the 
fluctuations in exchange are relatively slight. 
So much cannot be said of those on a silver 
basis and having depreciated paper as the 



152 LATIN AMERICA 

chief circulating medium. Although the 
constitutions of the states afflicted by money 
of this description usually prohibit the issue 
of notes, the fact does not prevent the local 
banks from evading the restriction, if they 
can secure government approval for that 
purpose. Of all the countries, Colombia 
and Paraguay are the ones that are suffering 
most keenly at present from issues of depre- 
ciated paper. 

Occasionally such expedients have been 
tried as the prohibition of the export of 
silver and gold coins, and even the reduction 
of the salaries of government employees, in 
order to provide a reserve fund that may meet 
the difficulties caused by an unsound cur- 
rency. The more advanced states have 
resorted to a wiser policy. Some of them 
have adopted the plan of setting aside a cer- 
tain percentage of the revenues from taxa- 
tion, and of depositing the sums thus ob- 
tained in foreign banks for the redemption 
of the paper money; or have made an arrange- 
ment for that purpose with a foreign cor- 
poration which would accept guarantees 
in the form of railway and mining conces- 
sions. In other cases, as in the Argentine 
Republic and Brazil, the fluctuations in 
exchange have been obviated in large measure 
through the establishment of what are 
called "conversion offices," by the regula- 



FINANCIAL SITUATION 153 

tions of which the ratio of paper to gold is 
definitely fixed. The creation of national 
banks, also, has greatly contributed toward 
the removal of some of the more serious 
financial difficulties. 

Few of the cities and towns in Latin Amer- 
ica enjoy municipal independence. Though 
the federal districts containing the national 
capital, in the republics where the federal 
system prevails, send representatives to 
congress, the fact does not seem to assure 
them any greater degree of control over 
their local affairs. As a rule the municipal 
officers are either appointees of the national 
or provincial authorities, or act in accordance 
with their direction. 

The police and fire service is commonly 
organized on a military basis, and the men 
engaged in it are often efficient and well 
drilled. Burglary is practically unknown, 
and highway robbery a very rare occurrence, 
outside of the republics in which grave 
pohtical disturbances still exist. In five 
or six of the states the death penalty has 
been abolished altogether. The more pro- 
gressive countries, also, have adopted an 
excellent penal system, which aims at the 
reformation, rather than the punishment, of 
offenders against the law. 



154 LATIN AMERICA 

CHAPTER XIII 

INDUSTRY 

Much is being done by the governments 
of the advanced states in Latin America 
to encourage the staple industries of min- 
ing, agriculture and stock-raising, and to 
foster manufacturing as well. Public lands 
are sold, often at a nominal price, with a 
long time allowed for payment. In some 
cases the purchaser is obligated to stock the 
land and put up needful buildings. Care like- 
wise is being taken to avoid increasing 
the number of large estates, by restricting 
within a reasonable maximum the amount 
of land that may be granted. 

For the promotion of agriculture and stock- 
raising, loans, bounties and prizes are 
among the means utilized, particularly for 
the introduction of new articles of produce. 
To these spurs to activity may be added the 
benefits of high protective duties, exemption 
from taxation and the free admission of 
necessary machinery. Many efforts have 
been made, especially in Mexico, to reclaim 
arid lands by an extensive system of irri- 
gation. Agricultural and mortgage banks, 
also, under government control, loan money 
to farmers. 

As a stimulus to home manufactures, sev- 



INDUSTRY 155 

eral of the governments are trying to change 
the character of the imports from foreign 
countries, to develop natural resources and to 
improve the facilities of transportation. 
They have increased import duties, granted 
bounties, aided in the discovery and appli- 
cation of various kinds of fuel, hitherto 
brought from abroad, promoted the use of 
water power from rivers and falls, and en- 
couraged the exportation of local manu- 
factured products. To these ends, as in the 
case of Uruguay, they have even entered into 
contracts with firms and individuals, and 
have supplied part of the capital required. 

Several of the countries, notably the 
Argentine Republic and Uruguay, have es- 
tablished bureaus of inspection and experi- 
mental stations for the benefit of indus- 
tries connected with agriculture and stock- 
raising. Uruguay, also, has created a bureau 
of general information for the exhibition of 
samples of all materials of national pro- 
duction, and the diffusion of knowledge about 
the resources of the country in general. 
National and international expositions have 
been held in such states as the Argentine 
Republic, Brazil and Chile, at which the 
industrial products have been displayed to 
great advantage. Many private organi- 
zations, similarly, have carried on a vigorous 
work of propaganda. 



150 LATIN AMERICA 

Foreign capital, of course, has been em- 
ployed in enormous quantities. Mines, 
agricultural properties, light, power and 
traction enterprises have all received a 
mighty impulse toward their development 
from this source. In the supply of capital. 
Great Britain still occupies easily the fore- 
most place, followed by the United States, 
France and Germany, more or less in the 
order named. British and American capi- 
tal predominates in practically all of the 
countries in and around the Gulf of Mexico 
and the Caribbean Sea. South of this area 
British funds largely control the situation. 

Throughout the republics in which min- 
ing is one of the great industries, the regu- 
lations governing the concession and working 
of mining properties are generally very liberal. 
The number of claims that may be denounced 
is unlimited, the annual tax on each claim 
light, and the tax on the exportation of the 
ore reasonable. Free entry, moreover, for 
all necessary equipment is conceded, at 
least so far as the first introduction of the 
material is concerned. 

Among the mining processes of interest 
is that connected with the extraction of 
nitrate of soda in Chile. The crude material, 
called "caliche," is found at depths ranging 
from one foot to ten feet below the surface. 
For the purpose of mining it, a shaft is 



INDUSTRY 157 

sunk and a charge of dynamite placed at the 
bottom. After the explosion, the chunks 
are broken up, loaded into mule-carts and 
taken to the "oficina," or nitrate-plant 
proper. Here they are pulverized by power- 
ful machinery, and the powder is run into 
huge tanks where it is boiled in water for 
ten or twelve hours. The saturated liquid, 
known as "calso," freed from gravelly 
refuse, is then run into vats to cool and crys- 
tallize. When dry, the nitrate thus procured 
is put into bags and sent by rail to the sea- 
ports. 

In the nitrate region, incidentally, it may 
be said that trees and plants are unknown, 
and the employees of the British, American 
and German firms engaged in the extraction 
of the material have to live on what is 
brought them from without. The fact seems 
all the more remarkable when one remembers 
that nitrate of soda is the chief ingredient 
of the finest fertilizers. Nitric acid, salt- 
peter and iodine are also extracted from it. 

On account of the equable climate in many 
of the cooler areas of Latin America, agri- 
cultural operations are carried on all the 
year round. Outside of the highly advanced 
states, the methods of tilling the soil are 
often very primitive, scarcely improved in 
fact beyond what they were in colonial times. 
Food plants are raised mainly for local 



158 LATIN AMERICA 

consumption. They consist for the most 
part of maize, black beans, rice, "quinoa," 
which is a species of millet, manioc, potatoes 
and yams. In Mexico, maize and beans are 
the great food staples of the poorer classes, 
and constitute the dishes known as "fri- 
joles," and "tortillas." 

Until comparatively a few years ago, the 
Argentine Republic and its little neighbor, 
Uruguay, were almost entirely pastoral 
countries; but many of the cattle-raisers 
are now inclined to believe that the future of 
both lands lies rather in agriculture. The 
result is that the Argentine Republic, in 
particular, has become one of the greatest 
producers of cereals, flax and linseed in the 
world. 

Several of the methods pursued in con- 
nection with the raising and elaboration of 
agricultural products call for a few words 
of description. In Costa Rica, for example, 
the banana plant begins to yield fruit a 
few months after the shoot has been put into 
the ground. At the close of each season the 
laborer cuts the shoot with a "machete," 
a species of long pruning knife, sticks the 
"machete" into the earth, gives it a twist, 
puts in the shoot, stamps it, and the process 
is done. In some of the tropical countries, 
like Paraguay, the cultivation of oranges 
and other citrus fruits offers great promise. 



INDUSTRY 159 

not only for the "golden apples" themselves, 
but for the orange-wine, citric acid, citrates 
of lime, candied peel and orange-flower 
water, which may be made from them. 

The coffee-tree, as seen for instance on the 
plantations (fazendas) in southern Brazil, 
may grow to a height of twenty feet, but for 
the sake of convenience in picking it is 
rarely allowed to reach more than eight or 
nine. It begins to bear, ordinarily, when 
from three to G.ve years old. During the 
harvest season the pickers are busy at work 
with huge baskets strapped to their backs. 
They labor for reputation as well as for 
money, and usually receive more of the 
former than they do of the latter, thus 
having something in common with a great 
many other classes of people in the world. 
At all events, the fame of being the fastest 
picker is one very much to be envied. 

After the outer pulp and skin have been 
removed, the coffee beans are subjected 
to a thorough cleansing, spread out on 
drying terraces, made of cement, and ex- 
posed to the heat of the sun. To hasten the 
course of drying, which sometimes runs over 
several weeks, workmen are engaged in 
constantly turning over the beans with rakes. 
The inner skin adhering closely to the beans 
is then taken off by a hulling machine, and 
the chaff blown away by a process of win- 



160 LATIN AMERICA 

no wing. When this is done, women and girls 
are assigned the task of sorting the beans 
into "Mocha," "Java" and other grades 
of coffee. 

Some years ago, furthermore, the Brazil- 
ian state of Sao Paulo, in which the bulk of 
the coffee is produced, warded off the 
dangers arising from an enormous surplus 
crop by buying up the floating supply 
at a minimum price and selling it as the 
market might demand. This is known as 
the "valorization" scheme. 

A word or two might now be said about 
the production of cacao. After the pods 
containing the cacao beans are cut or 
broken away from the trunk of the tree to 
which they are attached, the beans are 
freed from their enveloping pulp, spread 
on bamboo matting and exposed to the rays 
of the sun. So as to assure evenness in 
drying, workmen rake them over every 
once in a while, sometimes, as in Ecuador, 
by scuffling through them with their bare 
feet. After the beans have been ground 
and otherwise treated in the foreign coun- 
tries to which they are exported, the powder 
is flavored with sugar and vanilla, and the 
resultant product is called chocolate. 

The "yerba," a species of tea, raised 
in Paraguay and the adjoining districts of 
the Argentine Republic and Brazil, is made 



INDUSTRY 161 

from the leaves of a tree that grows partly 
wild and partly under cultivation. The 
leaves are gathered on huge branches at a 
time by Indian laborers and shipped to the 
cities, where they are dried, cleansed and 
pulverized by machinery, and packed in 
bags for shipment. As the leaves contain 
resin, essential oil and a small quantity of 
caffeine and tannin, they have the charac- 
teristic properties of tea and coffee, but 
in such proportions that the product is not 
injurious. In the southern part of South 
America the use of "yerba" as a beverage 
is very popular. Less harmful than either 
tea or coffee, it is more stimulating. It 
is commonly drunk through a spoon-shaped 
tube, called a "bombiila," or " little pump, " 
out of a small pear-shaped gourd, called 
a "mate'' or "cuya." 

Coca is a shrub found only in Peru and 
Bolivia. It is long-lived, and begins to 
bear a few months after planting, as many 
as four crops being raised in a year. Though 
cultivated at a high altitude, the shrub 
grows only in the temperate areas. After the 
leaves have been dried for a few hours, they 
are pressed into bales and exported in this 
form. 

All through the vast stretches of the Ama- 
zon valley, and other areas in Latin America, 
will be found the camps of the wandering 



162 LATIN AMERICA 

rubber gatherers. The rubber trees vary in 
height from fifty to seventy feet, and in 
diameter from two to three feet. From the 
many varieties of trees there are two or 
three principal rubber products taken, one 
of which, called in Spanish "jebe," is more 
elastic than the others, and consequently 
worth more in the market. The less valu- 
able sort of rubber is often obtained by fell- 
ing the tree, in order to extract its milky 
sap or juice. The "jebe," on the other 
hand, is drawn out by making incisions in 
a spiral form around the trunk, and hang- 
ing under them a number of little tin cups. 
So sensitive is the bark of the tree that little 
more than a scratch will cause the fluid to 
ooze out. 

The work of tapping the trees is begun at 
daybreak. In the course of the afternoon 
the rubber-gatherer collects the contents of 
the cup into a bucket. Then the rubber 
milk is coagulated over a fire built of sticks 
of wood containing certain chemical proper- 
ties. When duly " curdled, " the milk is made 
into large balls of a brownish-black color. 
A recent Brazilian invention, however, prom- 
ises to furnish a means of "curing" rubber 
without the use of smoke, through adding 
a certain preservative that enables the milk 
to be kept in liquid form until ready for 
coagulation and pressure into sheets. 



INDUSTRY 163 

In many cases the exploitation of the 
rubber forests is wasteful beyond measure, 
and the treatment of the rubber-gatherers, 
who are commonly Indians and half breeds, by 
their taskmasters, none too gentle. This 
treatment, added to their lonely life in wild 
forests and in an unhealthy climate, makes 
their lot a deplorable one; though it must 
be admitted that the rubber traders have 
indirectly helped, more than any other 
class, to open the interior of the several coun- 
tries, survey the navigable waters and pro- 
mote exploration in general. Small wonder 
is it, therefore, that a modest, useful and 
valuable product like rubber should have 
been given the epithet "black gold," sug- 
gestive of the evil actions too frequently 
associated with the search for that precious 
metal. It should be said, however, that the 
governments of Brazil and Peru have made 
efforts to lessen some of the worst phases 
of the situation. 

Though stock-breeding is an important 
industry in many of the Latin-American 
countries, it holds chief place in the activi- 
ties of the Argentine Republic. The finest 
breeds of European and Arabian horses, 
and of European cattle and sheep have 
been brought thither, and they have 
thriven wonderfully. In the number of 
horses on its ranches, the Argentine Repub- 



164 LATIN AMERICA 

lie ranks third in the world, coming after 
Russia and the United States, in the num- 
ber of cattle third, after India and the 
United States, and in the number of sheep 
second only to Australia. A specialty is 
made of breeding draft and race horses. 
Enormous herds of cattle, also, roam over 
the "pampas." Here the fine soil and ex- 
cellent pasturage, so conducive to the size 
and productiveness of the cattle, give them a 
superior "bloom," as the stock-raisers would 
say. Though not always greater in weight 
or in amount of beef than the cattle of the 
United States, some of the finest bulls weigh 
a ton, and yield 500 or 600 pounds of beef. 
In the Argentine Republic, furthermore, 
are raised countless millions of sheep, the 
progenitors of which, like those of the cattle, 
came directly or indirectly from England. 
Much of the wool produced is of the fine 
quality and glossy appearance so much 
sought after. 

Not only stock-breeding, but the industries 
associated with the preparation of animal 
products flourish in both the Argentine 
Republic and Uruguay. "Charqui," chilled 
meat, tinned tongues, beef extracts, hides, 
skins, tallow and wool are numbered in the 
list. "Charqui" consists of beef cut into 
long, thin strips and dried in the sun. When 
fresh, properly cured and suitably cooked, 






INDUSTRY 165 

it is quite palatable. Liebig's Extract of 
Meat Company, one of the largest estab- 
lishments of its kind in the world, is located 
in Uruguay. Here, and in the Argentine 
Republic, the great stockyards and refriger- 
ating plants, and the numerous dairy in- 
dustries, especially in Buenos Ayres, are 
centers of busy life. The various activities 
visible on the huge "estancias," or cattle- 
ranches, in particular, are objects of absorb- 
ing interest. 

Compared with the great and widespread 
industries of mining, agriculture and stock- 
raising, those connected with manufacturing 
and the mechanical arts in general have 
reached little more than the preliminary 
stage in most of the Latin-American coun- 
tries. Aside from primitive handicrafts, 
the manufacturing enterprises are associ- 
ated, mainly in direct fashion, with the 
three staple industries themselves. The 
circumstance is explained in large measure 
by the relative backwardness in economic 
development as a whole, and by the lack 
of sufficient capital and skilled labor. Under 
present conditions, perhaps, it might be de- 
sirable that this situation continue, since the 
countries concerned, for many years to 
come, will find it more profitable to export 
food products and raw material, in exchange 
for European and American goods, than 



166 LATIN AMERICA 

to attempt manufacturing on their own 
account. 

So far as the distinctly tropical areas enter 
into the question, the existence of an essen- 
tially factory or industrial life seems al- 
together improbable, except in the very 
remote future. In the temperate countries, 
however, the encouraging development of 
local industries may soon put them in a 
position to meet a large number of the re- 
quirements of the home market, and thereby 
lessen their dependence upon foreign manu- 
factures for the supplies demanded by an 
advancing civilization. Aside from the 
industries already mentioned, flour-mills, 
distilleries, breweries, sugar-mills and weav- 
ing-mills may be included in the list. Yet, 
even in the largest industrial centers th< 
manufacturing enterprises belonging to citi- 
zens of the republic are scarcely a tenth of 
those owned and conducted by foreigners. 

In regard to the primitive handicrafts pur- 
sued, especially among the peoples of Indian 
stock, it may be said that a stout, service- 
able cloth is woven from the llama, vicuna 
and alpaca wool, one of the chief articles 
made being the "poncho," a sort of blanket, 
commonly worn in the country districts. 
Cotton goods of coarse texture are woven 
in Peru and southern Brazil. In Mexico, 
the "pita," a plant resembling the pine- 



I 



INDUSTRY 167 

apple, yields a strong fiber for spinning and 
weaving. Here, also, the "rebozo," the 
"sarape" and other articles of dress are 
made, chiefly out of cotton. The so-called 
"Panama hats" of the best grade are woven 
by hand in Ecuador, from a kind of straw 
growing in the coast region of that country. 
In Nicaragua, similarly, are produced "Pana- 
ma chains." These are made of solid or hol- 
low gold wire, strung like hair-chains; and 
some of the specimens turned out are good 
examples of the goldsmith 's art. The women 
of Paraguay, also, are expert in the knitting 
of "nanduti, " a kind of filmy lace, not unlike 
a spider web. 

One of the most remarkable native in- 
dustries is that which has to do with manu- 
facturing the many derivatives from the 
"maguey," and other varieties of cacti, 
grown in Mexico. The list of such deriva- 
tives includes ropes, twine, thread, thatch, 
mats, hammocks, paper and, above all, three 
kinds of liquor, the best known of which is 
called "pulque," the national beverage of 
Mexico. "Pulque" is obtained through 
fermentation of the sap of the "maguey" by 
a process that dates back to the time of the 
Aztecs. If taken in moderation, the liquor 
is a tonic and is nutritive as well. The word 
itself, curiously enough, is of Araucanian, 
and not of Aztec, origin. 



168 LATIN AMERICA 

From the produce of the "vegas" or to- 
bacco plantations of Cuba, including those 
of the world-famed "Vuelta Abajo" dis- 
trict, more than a hundred cigar factories 
in Havana alone turn out hundreds of mil- 
lions of cigars a year, and many million 
pounds of leaf tobacco. Some of these fac- 
tories employ upwards of 600 workmen. In 
the larger ones a professional reader is en- 
gaged, who reads from books or newspapers, 
chosen by the workmen themselves, as a 
means of holding their attention to their 
duties, and of preventing possible conver- 
sation or argument. In Cuba, also, and in 
other countries where sugar-cane is raised 
in large quantities, the refining of sugar, the 
production of molasses and the distillation 
of rum are extensively carried on. Shoe- 
making is an industry prosecuted with con- 
siderable success in such countries as Chile 
and Colombia, mainly through the use of 
American machinery. 

CHAPTER XIV 

COMMERCE 

All of the larger cities of Latin America 
are well provided with banking institu- 
tions. In the northern group of republics 
American banking interests are strong, 



COMMERCE 169 

whereas in South America the reverse is the 
case. Here the British and German estab- 
lishments exercise practically complete con- 
trol over the money market, and enjoy 
large profits on their operations. Trust 
companies are rare. The same may be 
said of corporate monopolies of the Ameri- 
can sort, except in some of the northern 
countries, and to a certain extent, also, in 
the Argentine Republic, where they have 
bought up several of the packing-houses. 

Regarding the commercial attitude and 
business usages of the Latin Americans, 
it may be said that in all of the republics 
a small number of persons are found who 
view with disfavor and apprehension the 
introduction of foreign capital and the in- 
pouring of European immigrants. Pre- 
possessions of this sort, however, are not com- 
monly influential. A marked desire, on the 
contrary, for the introduction of American, 
as well as British and German, capital exists 
in substantially all of the countries. Not 
only is the value of capital for the purpose 
of developing natural resources well under- 
stood, but there is a shrewd notion afoot, 
also, of the additional benefits that would 
proceed from a cheapening of that commod- 
ity were the American article to be placed 
in effective competition with the British 
and the German. 



170 LATIN AMERICA 

On the other hand, the principle of com- 
petition, as applied in particular to the 
sale of foreign goods, either purchased out- 
right or sold on commission, is not so warmly 
welcomed by the average business house in 
Latin America. When it undertakes to 
handle such goods, it is apt to demand an 
exclusive right to their sale, and looks askance 
at any attempt to supply a competitor 
with the same product. 

That the great industrial and commercial 
enterprises of the Latin-American countries 
are controlled largely by Europeans and 
Americans is a circumstance not due al- 
together to the fact that the capital required 
for their initiation and development has 
come from outside of those countries them- 
selves. Viewed as a whole, the Latin Ameri- 
cans, whatever their nationality, appear to 
lack the business instinct of the British, the 
German and the American. Some of the 
more prominent mercantile houses are fam- 
iliar enough with modern methods. Close 
students of their foreign tutors, and pos- 
sessed of much ability of their own, the 
members of such firms enlarge their ac- 
quaintance with the present requirements of 
business, by visiting the trade centers of 
Europe and the United States. 

The average Latin-American merchant, 
however, is cautious and conservative after 



COMMERCE 171 

the manner of his Spanish or Portuguese 
ancestors. Invariably courteous in his bear- 
ing, and often formal and punctilious to a 
degree, he expects a like treatment in return. 
He is not quick to perceive the advantage 
of talking business the moment his visitor 
arrives, or of buying an article that has the 
element of novelty as its chief recommenda- 
tion. Instead, he is disposed to prefer that 
which he knows by long-continued usage 
and, when the familiar article is brought 
from abroad, he wants it precisely in the form 
to which he is accustomed. 

In this connection an interesting contrast 
is frequently offered between the divergent 
practices of the countries on the east coast 
of South America and those on the west 
coast. So far as the business man in the 
former is concerned, he has very little senti- 
ment, as a rule, and accordingly buys from 
the person who sells the cheapest. On the 
west coast the dominant idea is rather one of 
friendship and relationship. Here the mer- 
chant prefers to do business, even at a 
disadvantage, with an individual or a firm 
that he has known, rather than to break off 
his old connections for the sake of a new- 
comer who may offer a larger profit. 

Exemplifying the trait to which atten- 
tion has already been called, the Latin- 
American business man is apt to make 



172 LATIN AMEn^JA 

promises of performance on a morrow that is 
long in coming. Such assurances bring to 
mind the phrase of the witty Frenchman, 
who remarked that the only Spanish expres- 
sion which was more common than "man- 
ana" (to-morrow) was "pasado manana" 
(day after to-morrow) ! To the extent that 
the promises refer to payments and credits, 
ancestral tradition is not alone responsible 
for the slowness of the one, or for the length 
of time demanded in the case of the other. 
The circumstance itself is not unusual in 
countries relatively undeveloped, where there 
may be an abundance of natural products 
accompanied by a scarcity of ready money 
to meet demands on short notice. The 
standard of financial morality among Latin- 
American business men in general is high, 
and bankruptcy relatively infrequent. Proof 
of this assertion is found in the long credits 
granted by the British and German com- 
mercial houses. 

In the larger cities the shops compare 
favorably with those of similar centers 
in Europe. Outside of Mexico, Buenos 
Ayres, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago, de- 
partment stores are almost unknown. The 
more important mercantile houses are com- 
monly of British, German or American 
ownership and management, except that the 
American element is usually lacking in the 



COMMERCE 173 

South American republics. Small shops 
for the sale of drygoods, provisions and the 
like are ordinarily in the hands of Germans, 
Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese. 

High tariffs on imported articles are the 
rule in Latin-American countries, and are 
levied for the production of revenue, per- 
haps, more than for the stimulation of home 
manufactures as such. Though food and 
lodging outside of the largest cities are not 
expensive, manufactured commodities and 
articles of comfort, convenience and luxury, 
imported from abroad, are costly. Chile 
is about the only state that has an extensive 
free list for foreign goods, a concession due 
to the large revenue obtained from the 
export tax on nitrate of soda. Despite the 
heavy protective duties, however, the annual 
trade returns of the more advanced countries 
are apt to show a steady increase. 

The duties levied in Latin- American ports 
are more commonly specific than ad valorem, 
the weight being determined strictly in 
accordance with the metric system, which is 
in use practically everywhere, except oc- 
casionally among the lower classes. Tariff 
schedules are often complicated and, unless 
followed very carefully, may cause articles 
to be taxed much higher than the class to 
which they properly belong. 

In their foreign trade a majority of the 



174 LATIN AMERICA 

Latin-American republics show a consider- 
able excess of exports over imports. This 
excess would be a good sign of prosperity, 
but for the fact that an enormous part of the 
capital engaged: in producing the exported 
articles is foreign, and hence that the earn- 
ings of the capital go out of the country. 

The chief metallic and mineral substances 
exported from the Latin-American countries 
are silver (Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Salvador, 
Honduras and Costa Rica); copper (Peru, 
Chile, Mexico and Bolivia); tin (Bolivia); 
gold (Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Hon- 
duras, Salvador and Costa Rica); nitrate 
of soda (Chile); petroleum (Mexico and 
Peru); and bismuth (Bolivia). The output 
of silver from Mexico represents over one 
third of the world's produce, and is drawn 
mainly from three mineral ' districts, which 
were worked also in colonial times. Bolivia 
produces tin second in amount only to that 
of the Straits Settlements, and the bulk of the 
world's nitrate comes from Chile. 

The principal exports of agricultural 
products, similarly, are represented by coffee 
(Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Gua- 
temala, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, 
Haiti and Ecuador); sugar-cane (Cuba, 
the Dominican Republic and Peru) ; tobacco 
(Cuba, Brazil, the Dominican Republic 
and Paraguay); cacao (Brazil, Ecuador, the 



COMMERCE 175 

Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Haiti); 
bananas and other fruits (Costa Rica, 
Colombia, Panama and Honduras); cotton 
(Peru and Haiti) ; " henequen, " " ixtle, " sisal 
hemp and other vegetable fibers (Mexico) ; and 
cereals (the Argentine Republic and Uruguay). 
Brazil sends out four fifths of the world's 
supply of coffee, and the Argentine Republic 
ranks third among the nations of the earth 
in its supply of maize, and fifth in that of 
wheat. Panama hats constitute one of the 
chief exports of Ecuador. 

The exportation of forest products includes 
rubber (Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Ven- 
ezuela, Ecuador, Panama and Nicaragua); 
hardwoods (Guatemala, Paraguay and Ni- 
caragua); dye woods (Haiti); "yerba" (Para- 
guay and Brazil); and ivory nuts (Ecuador 
and Panama) . About one half of the rubber 
used in commerce comes from Brazil alone. 

Animal products are exported chiefly 
by the Argentine Republic, Uruguay, and, 
to a much less extent, Brazil, Colombia, 
Venezuela, Guatemala and Paraguay. The 
Argentine Republic ranks first among the 
countries of the world in its supply of chilled 
meat, and is second only to Australia in its 
exportation of sheep and wool. 

According to the returns for 1911, in the 
order of annual value of foreign trade the 
Argentine Republic heads the list, with about 



176 LATIN AMERICA 

$670,000,000. Brazil, its nearest competitor, 
has approximately five sixths of this amount. 
Cuba, Mexico and Chile do a foreign business 
valued at more than $200,000,000; and 
Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Vene- 
zuela from somewhat less than $100,000,000 
down to $30,000,000 a year respectively. 
The Argentine Republic, Brazil, Chile and 
Uruguay carry on seven eighths of the total 
trade of the South American continent. The 
rest have a commerce worth less than that of 
Denmark. Brazil, with a population about 
one and one half times as great as that of 
Mexico, has four times as much com- 
merce; and the Argentine Republic, with 
about half the population of Mexico, has 
nearly six times as much commerce. 
, For their size and the value of their re- 
sources, Ecuador and Colombia are eco- 
nomically the most backward countries in 
South America. Not only are their resources 
largely undeveloped, but their products 
for export fall far below the proportion that 
might be expected from the number of the 
population, and their imports, also, are rela- 
tively insignificant. Their importance in the 
commercial world lies in the possibility of 
future growth rather than in their present 
status. Paraguay, Nicaragua and Honduras 
have the least foreign commerce of all the 
Latin- American republics. 



COMMERCE 177 

Because of the insufficient development 
of home manufactures, the imports of the 
Latin-American countries, as a rule, are very 
great. Textiles, especially cotton goods, 
constitute a leading article of import among 
all of the states; hardware, machinery and 
construction material among all but three 
(Haiti, Panama and Honduras); and food- 
stuffs, particularly flour, among all but 
two (the Argentine Republic and the Dom- 
inican Republic). Boots and shoes are 
among the principal items of import in Sal- 
vador; drugs and medicines in Salvador 
and Venezuela; glassware and pottery in 
Uruguay; coal in the Argentine Republic, 
Chile and Peru; and gold, in Bolivia. 

Among the foreign nations to which the 
Latin Americans export their products, the 
United States holds first place in all of the 
countries in North America, except Guate- 
mala, and in none of those in South America, 
except Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela — or 
twelve altogether. In fact the United States 
is the chief customer for the coffee of 
Brazil. It ranks second, however, in com- 
mercial relations with Guatemala, Peru and 
Chile. The Argentine Republic receives 
most of the exports of Paraguay and a con- 
siderable amount, also, of those of Uruguay. 

Of the European countries to which the 
Latin-American states despatch the bulk 



178 LATIN AMERICA 

of their exports, Great Britain stands first 
in dealings with the Argentine Republic, 
Chile, Bolivia and Peru, and second in those 
with Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, Costa 
Rica, Panama and Nicaragua. Germany is 
the chief recipient of the exports of Gua- 
temala, and ranks second in the export trade 
of the Argentine Republic, Bolivia, the Dom- 
inican Republic, Salvador, Paraguay and 
Honduras. France stands first in the ex- 
port trade of Uruguay and Ecuador, and 
second in that of Haiti and Venezuela. 

Great Britain and the United States 
share the first rank among the foreign 
nations from which the Latin-American 
republics receive most of their imported 
goods. The United States surpasses Great 
Britain in the import trade of all of 
the republics in North America, and in 
that of none of the republics of South 
America, except Colombia and Venezuela, 
or twelve altogether, the chief difference be- 
tween this and the twelve already mentioned 
consisting in the inclusion of Guatemala and 
the exclusion of Brazil. The value of the 
imports from Brazil into the United States, 
in fact, is very much less than that of its 
exports to that country. Elsewhere in South 
America, the United States is second to Great 
Britain in Peru and Ecuador. 

Great Britain, on the other hand, surpasses 



TRANSPORTATION 179 

the United States in the import trade of all 
the South American republics, except Col- 
ombia and Venezuela, or eight altogether, 
and holds second rank in that of the two 
just named, and of all of the North American 
countries, except Mexico, the Dominican 
Republic, Haiti and Guatemala. Germany- 
occupies the second place in the import trade 
of six South American states (the Argentine 
Republic, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia 
and Paraguay), and of three of those of 
North America (Mexico, the Dominican 
RepubKc and Guatemala). 



CHAPTER XV 

TRANSPORTATION 

On land the system of transportation and 
communication in Latin America, taking 
the republics as a whole, is quite defective. 
In many of the mountainous and tropical 
regions, and even in some portions of the 
temperate areas, railways are practically 
non-existent. The result is that throughou;fe 
most of Latin America the modes of o^^r- 
land transportation, on roads that are often 
little more than mule-tracks, are about as 
primitive as they were in colonial days. 
Pack animals, ox-carts and hum^n car- 
riers have to be brought into requisition. 



180 LATIN AMERICA 

Though the rate of speed is necessarily very 
slow, the carrying capacity in one form or 
another is surprisingly great. 

Almost any article, no matter how heavy 
or bulky, from a piano to a huge piece of 
machinery, can be borne through the jungles 
or up the steep mountain passes. Except 
in some of the more advanced states, don- 
key or llama trains, and even goats and 
sheep, laden with every conceivable sort of 
merchandise, are everywhere conspicuous. 
Whenever any particular object is too heavy 
or too unwieldy for the beasts of burden to 
carry or pull, it is slung on poles and borne 
on the backs of men. 

Any needless deviation, therefore, from 
the rules of packing and adjustment, by 
reason of weight or size, means a correspond- 
ing increase, both in the difficulties of trans- 
portation and in the freight charges. As- 
suming that the goods are in proper form 
and are intrusted to experienced carriers,^ 
the risk of loss or injury is not so immineni 
as it might seem. The very existence of the 
risk, nevertheless, adds materially to th( 
insurance rates; and in all cases the amounts 
charged for such primitive modes of carriagejj 
to say nothing of those exacted by the smal 
vessels plying on many of the rivers, are apl 
to be far in excess of what is demanded foi 
transportation by sea. 



TRANSPORTATION 181 

The larger cities of Latin America are 
provided with an excellent system of electric 
tramcars, mainly the property of foreign 
corporations. Wherever the exigencies of 
traffic demand it, the disposition is increas- 
ing to electrify the street railways. Tram- 
cars drawn by horses or mules are derisively 
called "cucarachas" (cockroaches). In 
the more advanced countries, of course, 
automobiles are numerous, especially those 
of the French type; nor is it unusual to 
find them, wherever the condition of the road 
will allow it, in the backward states. 

Except in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, 
Nicaragua and Honduras, the railway facil- 
ities in the group of republics in North Amer- 
ica are fairly adequate for present demands. 
In South America, on the contrary, apart 
from certain areas, the railway situation 
is very deficient; but the first half of the 
twentieth century promises to be a great 
railway-building era. Never has the con- 
struction of iron roads, especially in the 
Argentine Republic, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay 
and Bolivia been so active as it is now. 
Distinct progress in this direction, also, is visi- 
ble in Peru, Ecuador and Paraguay, though 
not so much in Venezuela and Colombia. 

Political disturbances, unsettled social con- 
ditions, lack of funds and of the needful 
labor, and the difficulties arising out of the 



182 LATIN AMERICA 

physical conformation of the mountainous 
countries, are all responsible for the existing 
backwardness. In the western countries 
of South America, traversed by the Andes, 
there are more problems for the modern 
railway engineer to solve than in almost any 
other part of the world where railways are re- 
quired. On account of the enormous ob- 
stacles to construction, no railways have yet 
been completed to connect adequately the 
great river system of the Atlantic side 
of the continent with the Pacific coast. It 
should be said, however, that the mag- 
nificent network of waterways in Brazil, 
the Argentine Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela, 
and Colombia have compensated in some 
measure, so far, for the relative lack of 
railways, particularly in view of the great 
progress in steam navigation. 

Outside of Mexico, Cuba, the Argentine 
Republic, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, which 
have more or less elaborate trunk systems, 
nearly all of the railways in Latin America 
are short-line feeders for seaports, consti- 
tuting thus a series of scattered, unrelated 
units. Among the Latin republics of 
North America, Cuba is the country that 
has the largest railway mileage in proportion 
to its area, and the same is true of Uruguay 
in South America. Colombia is the one that 
has the smallest. 



TRANSPORTATION 183 

In states like Mexico, the Argentine 
Republic, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, the 
trains, on the main lines at least, are well 
provided with the accommodations that 
modern requirements of convenience, and 
even luxury, may call for. Vestibuled 
throughout and supplied with parlor cars, 
dining cars and sleepers, clean, well lighted 
and ventilated, they meet the wishes of the 
traveler in practically every respect. Even 
on some of the mountain railways and the 
shorter lines running a comparatively short 
distance back from the seacoast, no very 
serious inconveniences are found. The Ar- 
gentine Republic, in fact, has vestibuled 
trains for the transportation of cattle, an 
arrangement which greatly facilitates the 
process of loading the cars. 

In the Latin republics of North America, 
where American influence upon railway con- 
struction is more marked, the American 
car is the type commonly used. On the 
other hand, in the South American countries, 
where British money has built most of the 
railways, the compartment system is the 
rule, though modifications, combining both 
the American and the European plan, are not 
uncommon. 

Railway rates, both for passengers and 
freight, are apt to be very high. This is 
notably true of the republics in which thet 



184 LATIN AMERICA 

natural difficulties have made construction 
costly. Few efforts are made to run any 
of the trains at a high speed. Slowness and 
safety are the watchwords, and in the 
mountainous areas trains seldom run at 
night. Railways, even in the same country, 
often have different gauges; but wherever 
the railway system is extensive, efforts are 
constantly being made to render the guage 
uniform, so that difficulties of this sort may 
soon be obviated. Express companies, work- 
ing in connection with the railways, are very 
rare, outside of a few of the largest cities. 

The oldest railway line in the northern 
group of republics was built in Cuba as 
early as 1835, and is, in fact, the oldest 
of all in Latin America. Though the con- 
struction of railways began in Mexico 
about 1842, the first line between the city of 
Mexico and Vera Cruz was not opened until 
1873. Chile had the first railway on the 
continent of South America, the line being 
built by an American in 185 1 . The Argentine 
Republic followed in 1857, and Brazil a 
year later. 

Not only railways, but practically all of 
the modern means of transportation in 
Latin America were initiated and constructed 
with European and American capital. Most 
of them, also, are owned by foreigners. 
Outside of Mexico and a few of the other 



TRANSPORTATION 185 

republics in North America, where American 
enterprise has been foremost, British capital 
and, to a much smaller extent, money from 
Germany and France have supplied what 
was needed for the purpose. 

In a few of the countries the respective 
governments either own the railways out- 
right, or keep them under immediate control. 
Mexico, for example, has striven to prevent 
the absorption of existing lines by foreign 
companies, and to reorganize and improve 
the system by purchasing an amount of stock 
sufficient to enable it to dominate the man- 
agement. At least this is true so far as the 
great trunk lines are concerned. Except 
those in the nitrate areas, the railways in 
Chile are owned by the government, even 
if operated at a heavy loss. Other countries, 
like Brazil and the Dominican Republic, 
have a number of state railway lines. Al- 
though in the Argentine Republic the lines 
are almost exclusively in private .hands, the 
British owners of them are held in fairly 
effective control by the government. 

Several of the railway enterprises now in 
operation merit a brief description. Chile, 
for example, is promoting the construc- 
tion of a "longitudinal railway," stretch- 
ing from the Peruvian frontier southward 
to the Straits of Magellan, and covering a 
distance of 2,600 miles. More and more is 



186 LATIN AMERICA 

the conviction growing in Brazil that the 
natural wealth of the country cannot be 
developed until the vast and varied river 
systems have been adequately linked by 
railway connection. For the full expansion 
of Brazilian industries, therefore, railway 
communication is imperative, so as to super- 
sede the wretched roads across the low 
plateaus and to turn the cataracts that bar 
access to the upper reaches of some of the 
great navigable affluents of the Amazon. 
When the several projects now under way 
have been realized, an extensive system of 
railway lines will open up the Brazilian 
backwoods, give the Andean states, like 
Peru and Bolivia, direct and easy access 
to the Atlantic, and make the Amazon one of 
the most important commercial highways in 
the world. Brazil will then enjoy a posi- 
tion of unrivaled value as the intermediary 
of exchange between central South America 
and the rest of the world. 

One of the most remarkable railway pro- 
jects that has recently been carried into 
effect in Brazil is the line called the "Madeira 
and Mamore Railway," £10 miles in length, 
and built for the purpose of flanking the 
rapids of the Madeira River. Ocean steam- 
ships reach the foot of the rapids at the north- 
eastern terminus of the railway. Above the 
rapids there are upwards of 2,500 miles of 



TRANSPORTATION 187 

navigable waters, serving an area of over 
475,000 square miles in Bolivia and in the 
huge Brazilian State of Matto Grosso, a 
region of incalculable wealth, which has 
hitherto been practically isolated. Since 
Bolivia has built a railway to reach the head 
of steamboat navigation on one of the tribu- 
taries of the Madeira above the rapids, 
there will be no more necessity of painfully 
climbing over the Andes at this point in 
order to touch tidewater. The work of 
construction has been carried on by an Amer- 
ican company. 

Of the transcontinental lines, the Panama 
Railway between Colon and Panama was 
built in 1855 to facilitate the journey of the 
gold seekers bound for California, and to 
serve as a means of transit until the long 
projected waterway through the Isthmus 
of Panama could be completed. At present 
there are three other transcontinental rail- 
ways in Latin America, all of which have 
been put into operation in recent times. 
These are the lines in Mexico across the 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec, through Guate- 
mala, and through the Argentine Republic 
and Chile. The principal tunnel on the route 
last named is nearly two miles long, and lies 
about the same distance above the level of the 
sea. No tunnel in the world, of so great a 
length, is situated at such analtitude. Eventu- 



188 LATIN AMERICA 

ally the lines of these two South Ameri- 
can countries, in connection with the roads 
already in existence and in process of con- 
struction, will form part of a railway thou- 
sands of miles long, that will extend from 
Valparaiso, Chile, on the Pacific, through 
the Argentine Republic, Uruguay and Brazil, 
clear up to Pernambuco on the Atlantic. 
The most grandiose project of railway con- 
struction in the New World, however, is 
that connected with the building of the 
Inter-continental Railway, commonly called 
the "Pan-American Railway," which was 
first broached at the meeting of the Pan- 
American Conference at Mexico in 1901. The 
plan then devised was to have a trunk line 
stretching all the way from New York to 
Buenos Ayres, a distance of about 10,000 
miles, with ramifications in every direction. 
Existing lines, of course, were to be used for 
the purpose, and other railways added, 
as fast as they could be constructed in the 
various countries traversed. It is now pos- 
sible to go from New York by rail to within 
a few miles of the city of Guatemala. From 
this point southward to Panama, and thence 
through Colombia, Ecuador and Peru to 
the shores of Lake Titicaca, there are nu- 
merous gaps to be filled in. Here the line will 
join the ones being pushed rapidly northward 
from the Argentine Republic into Bolivia. 



TRANSPORTATION 189 

In South America the only international 
lines are those running from Peru, Chile 
and the Argentine Republic into Bolivia, 
between Chile and the Argentine Republic, 
and between Uruguay and Brazil. Still 
another is under way to connect the Argen- 
tine Republic with Paraguay. Of these lines, 
the one extending from Arica on the Chilean 
coast to La Paz in Bolivia, which has re- 
cently been completed, finds its chief impor- 
tance in its political and strategic value. 
Its twenty-eight miles of rack-track consti- 
tute the longest uninterrupted stretch of 
cog-and-wheel construction in existence. At 
its highest point the road is nearly 14,000 feet 
above the level of the sea. This, however, 
is about 2,000 feet lower than the altitude 
of the Oroya Railway in Peru, the loftiest 
of all in Latin America, or indeed of any 
in the world. 

On the lakes and rivers one still finds craft 
as primitive as any of those in colonial times. 
Such, for example, are the native boats 
called "caballitos" (little horses), on Lake 
Titicaca, made of straw and propelled by 
sails of woven grass. On the shallowest 
sections of the rivers are numerous row- 
boats and barges for the conveyance of 
freight and passengers. River steamers are 
largely, but not wholly, owned and run by 
foreigners, among whom the British occupy 



190 LATIN AMERICA 

the foremost place. Many of the govern- 
ments, also, are actively engaged in the task 
of improving the internal waterways, chiefly 
with European aid. On the larger rivers of 
the Argentine Republic and Uruguay the 
Argentine steamer service is excellent. 

Except in the case of small coasting- vessels, 
Brazil is the only Latin-American country 
that has steamships of its own for oceanic 
trade on a large scale. The service furnished 
by the British, German, French, Italian, 
Dutch, Spanish and other European lines 
plying to Latin-American ports is extensive 
and, in the main, adequate. Some of the 
vessels running between the United States 
and those ports are owned by American cor- 
porations, but they regularly fly European 
flags. 

In the great majority of Latin- American 
harbors the methods of landing and embark- 
ing are rather primitive. Owing to the lack 
of wharves, the steamers have to anchor at 
some distance off shore. Passengers and 
luggage, ordinarily, are transferred in row- 
boats, and articles of freight in barges rowed 
with long sweeps. Sometimes when the 
weather is too stormy to allow the use of 
rowboats, the vessels approach as near as 
they can to the long iron jetty, which in 
many places serves as a wharf, and the 
passengers are loaded into a sort of basket 



TRANSPORTATION 191 

attached to a crane, and thus swung 
ashore. 

An improvement in the mail and passen- 
ger service between the United States and the 
countries of South America is very much to 
be desired. With the completion of the Pan- 
ama Canal many of the obstacles will be 
removed. Transversely, between the Atlan- 
tic coast of the United States and the Pacific 
coast of South America, and the Pacific 
coast of the former and the Atlantic coast 
of the latter, the distance will be greatly 
shortened, the cost of transportation low- 
ered and an era of commercial relationship 
in general established closer than has pre- 
vailed hitherto. 

Practically throughout the republics of 
Latin America the telegraph service is either 
owned, or directly controlled, by the govern- 
ment. Wireless telegraphy has been in- 
stalled in many of them. Telephone com- 
munication, as a rule, is in private hands and 
managed by foreigners. Uruguay, however, 
has entered upon a process of nationalizing, 
not only the telephone and telegraph ser- 
vice, but other facilities of a more or less 
public character. 



192 LATIN AMERICA 

CHAPTER XVI 

EDUCATION 

Almost everywhere in the republics of 
Latin America a marked contrast exists 
between the highly cultured few and the 
poorly educated, or illiterate, many. The 
intellectual men and women, who are to be 
met with in the cities of importance, are 
comparable with the best of their class in 
Europe and the United States. They 
have traveled abroad, they commonly speak 
several languages, usually French and often 
English, in addition to their own native 
Spanish or Portuguese; and they are versed 
in all of the accomplishments that a refined 
society would demand. They are familiar, 
also, with the world 's progress in the arts and 
sciences, and in many cases they possess fine 
private libraries and art collections. 

The number of persons in the various 
states who cannot read or write ranges ap- 
proximately from thirty per cent to ninety 
per cent of the total population, though 
reliable statistics about the matter, as a 
rule, are very hard to obtain. Great as the 
contrast may be, even in some of the ad- 
vanced republics, between the cultured few 
at the top and the ignorant many at the 
bottom, it is gradually disappearing. 



EDUCATION 193 

In proportion as the development of their 
natural resources has enabled any of the 
Latin-American countries to make material 
progress in a relatively high degree, its ideas 
about the necessity of spreading education 
among the masses have become correspond- 
ingly broadened. Enlightened and public- 
spirited men are coming to realize more and 
more fully that the first essential of de- 
mocracy is that all of the people should be 
educated. 

Anyone who has watched closely the 
changes that have occurred in many of the 
Latin-American republics during the last 
quarter of a century, and in a few cases dur- 
ing a still longer period, sees how widely 
diffused modern ideas and methods of edu- 
cation have become. The number of schools, 
especially those for primary instruction, has 
increased enormously. New universities 
have been created, and earnest efforts have 
been made to reach out to the classes for- 
merly excluded from intellectual benefits. 
Night schools and other institutions of the 
sort have been introduced, and educational 
matters in general have been given much of 
the public interest that they deserve. 

German, French and American teachers 
have come under government contract to 
make their influence felt far and wide. 
The German and the French teachers have 



194 LATIN AMERICA 

devoted themselves, more especially, to 
scientific and technical instruction. Models, 
specimens, maps, charts, pictures and the 
like, used in the schools, are commonly 
of German origin. Americans have had a 
considerable share in promoting the develop- 
ment of training-schools for teachers, and 
have aided the course of improvement in 
primary and technical instruction as well. 
In several countries of Central America the 
study of English is prescribed for the primary 
schools, and in nearly all of the republics 
of Latin America at large it forms an impor- 
tant part of the curriculum in the high 
schools. 

Especial efforts have been made to pro- 
duce professional teachers and to give them 
proper salaries. Commissioners have been 
sent to visit European countries and the 
United States, in order to study their edu- 
cational systems. Students, also, have been 
enabled, through the enjoyment of govern- 
ment stipends, to attend educational insti- 
tutions there, as a means of assuring for 
their careers a greater usefulness to their 
fellow-countrymen. 

All of these manifestations of progress 
have come substantially from the increased 
expenditure of the governments themselves. 
To a very slight extent only have they been 
promoted through occasional contributions 



EDUCATION 195 

by private individuals. On this point it 
might be said that rich men and women in 
Latin America seldom give or bequeath 
money for educational purposes, their dona- 
tions going rather to religious and chari- 
table bodies. 

The modern ideas and methods of educa- 
tion, of course, are to be seen to most ad- 
vantage in the larger cities of such states as 
Uruguay, the Argentine Republic, Chile, 
Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba and Mexico, and 
to a smaller degree in Peru and Bolivia. 
Here the schools are fairly numerous, often 
efficiently conducted and quite well supplied 
with many of the materials that modern 
pedagogy demands for the purpose of in- 
struction. Here, also, the program of 
studies and the manner of carrying on the 
work in the classroom are commonly 
based on French, German or American 
models. It is the proud boast of Costa 
Rica, for example, that it has more school- 
teachers than soldiers, and that about one 
eighth of its annual budget is devoted to the 
education of the people. 

Naturally the kind of education afforded 
in the larger cities is everywhere far better 
than it is in the provincial towns or in 
the remoter districts of the country, where 
the facilities and conveniences of instruction, 
even in the more progressive republics, are 



196 LATIN AMERICA 

apt to be poor, or non-existent, and where the 
degree of ignorance often is dense. Several 
of the countries, however, are making earn- 
est efforts to raise the mental standard of the 
less favored races. When other means are 
not available, missionary schools, supported 
by the government, have been set up. So 
as to induce the less tractable Indians to live 
nearer the centers of civilized life, concessions 
of land are offered them, along with a prom- 
ise of assistance in the shape of tools, stock 
and seed. 

While much excellent work has been done, 
much still remains to be accomplished be- 
fore the primary and secondary school 
systems in particular can attain a proper 
level of usefulness to the community. 
Instead of permanent school funds, appro- 
priations voted annually by the legisla- 
ture are now the rule. The supply of 
suitable textbooks and other educational 
material is frequently insufficient. Too 
small a number of the schools, also, possess 
libraries of their own. 

In the republics of Latin America, as in 
other parts of the world, the complaint 
is heard that education is not practically 
adapted to the conditions of actual life; that 
it does not produce the kind of citizens re- 
quired to bring wealth out of the soil, break 
with ancient prejudices and carry on the 



EDUCATION 197 

processes of national development to the 
highest point. Except where commercial 
courses are given, there is a marked tendency 
to impose the same branches of study on 
every pupil, irrespective of tastes and ap- 
titudes, or of future vocation. The needs 
of technical, industrial and commercial 
education, therefore, are not sufficiently 
considered. 

Latin-American educators are pointing 
out that, because of inherited qualities 
of slowness of essoin tion in various respects, 
and chiefly because of a poor system of 
instruction, the great mass of the people of 
their respective countries lack as yet the 
mental equipment needed for economic 
efficiency. To meet this situation, they are 
urging the adoption of educational methods 
that will convert inclinations for a professional 
or military career into a genuine aptitude 
for industrial occupations. They feel, also, 
that in various ways the entrance of foreign 
ideas and usages is threatening the growth of 
nationality, and even leading to a deca- 
dence of national spirit. Accordingly, in 
order to offset any hurtful influence from this 
quarter, education ought to be made more 
strictly utilitarian in its aims and processes. 

What are called "Schools of Arts and 
Trades" have long since been established, 
but the prevailing opinion is that these are 



198 LATIN AMERICA 

not altogether suited to modern requirements. 
They must be supplemented by distinctly 
vocational schools, where young men and 
women, especially those of the growing 
middle class, can receive training for various 
occupations, in addition merely to trades 
as such. The result is that almost every- 
where in the larger cities the number of 
"professional" schools and institutions is 
steadily increasing. 

Outside of the more advanced countries 
of Latin America, co-education beyond the 
kindergarten stage is rare, and even in the 
case of the republics of that sort the prac- 
tice is not common. Though several of the 
states admit women to the universities, the 
opportunity thus afforded for higher educa- 
tion does not appear to be utilized very much, 
except perhaps in Uruguay. 

Public instruction in the Latin-American 
states is either controlled by the general 
government, or is carried on with its cooper- 
ation, or under its supervision. The na- 
tional government, also, represents the educa- 
tional system of the country for all foreign 
purposes. The various educational institu- 
tions are regularly subject to the control 
of the Ministe^r of Public Instruction, except 
that in the states where a federal form of gov- 
ernment exists the administration of pri- 
mary and secondary schools is more or less 



EDUCATION 199 

divided between the national and the local 
authorities. Politics, of course, plays some 
part in the arrangement of the programs of 
study and in the selection of teachers, 
but on the whole its influence does not appear 
to be serious. 

Non-official activities of an educational 
sort are numerous, especially in the coun- 
tries where public instruction has received a 
considerable amount of recognition. Teach- 
ers ' associations have been formed, con- 
gresses held and publications issued, which 
have greatly increased the consciousness 
of a solidarity of interest among the mem- 
bers of the teaching profession, and have con- 
tributed similarly to a knowledge and ap- 
plication of modern methods of education. 

Everywhere primary instruction is free, 
and, if the parents of the children are too 
poor to pay for school supplies, provision 
is commonly made for furnishing them free 
of charge. Religious instruction in the 
public schools is prohibited by a few of the 
republics; but, except in a few others, it is 
not imparted in such a manner as to produce 
the impression that the ecclesiastical influence 
is dominant. Quite on the contrary, secular 
instruction is expressly called for in most 
cases. In the great majority of the republics, 
also, the law makes attendance at the prim- 
ary schools compulsory up to a certain 



200 LATIN AMERICA 

age, althougli this requirement is seldom 
enforced in every section of the country, 
and often it is not enforced at all. 

In view of the rapid spread of education 
and the consequent demand for teachers, 
the number of training-schools has not in- 
creased proportionately. Yet wherever they 
are established, due provision appears to be 
made for assuring to the future teachers 
opportunities for observation and practice. 
In some cases the pupils are given their 
board and clothing, in return for an agree- 
ment that they will teach in the schools 
of the country for a certain period of time. 

Except, perhaps, for a few institutions 
founded and controlled by foreigners, there 
are no "colleges" in Latin America in the 
sense in which that term is used in England 
and the United States. All of the republics 
have at least one university, or a number of 
technical and professional establishments 
of university grade. Occasionally, as in 
Bolivia, the word "universidad" may refer 
to the general system of educational admin- 
istration in a particular area, and not neces- 
sarily to a university as such. Most 
of the universities and other institutions 
of higher learning are controlled by the state; 
but they are commonly allowed to possess 
property of their own, and to enjoy a con- 
siderable amount of independence. 



EDUCATION 201 

Among the leading institutions for higher 
education are the National Universities of 
Buenos Ayres and La Plata in the Argentine 
Republic; the professional and technical 
establishments in Brazil, like the Polytech- 
nic School at Rio de Janeiro; the University 
of Chile, at Santiago; the University of the 
Republic, at Montevideo, Uruguay; the 
Mexican National University recently 
founded at the city of Mexico; the Uni- 
versity of Havana, Cuba; the Greater 
University of St. Mark, at Lima, Peru; 
the Central University at Caracas, Vene- 
zuela, and the National University at Bogota. 
A few of the institutions, as for example 
the Greater University of St. Mark, date 
from colonial times, and the Mexican Na- 
tional University is the successor of the 
old Royal and Pontifical University of St. 
Paul. 

Professional titles of every description 
are granted only by the state. Brazil, 
however, took the radical step, in 1911, of 
abolishing academic titles altogether, and 
of furnishing instead certificates of pro- 
ficiency. The reason given was that schol- 
astic degrees are unsuited to a democratic 
society. By lessening the number of "doc- 
tors," and by discouraging aspirants to 
academic honors of the sort, Brazil hopes 
to divert the youthful intellect and energy 



202 LATIN AMERICA 

of the country from professional careers 
into channels of industrial usefulness. 

Latin-American universities are organized 
after the European fashion in more or less 
separate faculties; and in the advanced 
republics, they commonly include a num- 
ber of technical schools as well. In numerous 
instances they are equipped with corps of 
able professors, many of whom have studied 
abroad. As is frequently true of those 
giving instruction in secondary schools, and 
even in the primary schools, the university 
instructors are not usually teachers by 
profession. They are primarily practicing 
lawyers, physicians and engineers, or are 
actively engaged in some other occupation. 
They receive their appointment from the 
president through the Minister of Public 
Instruction, and are selected out of a list 
of eligible candidates submitted by the 
faculty concerned. ■ 

Uruguay is about the only republic that 
has endeavored to establish a body of uni- 
versity professors who are to devote their 
entire attention to teaching, and become 
expert and productive in their particular 
fields of research. This change is to be 
effected in some measure by assuring to the 
incumbents of the professorships a salary 
more adequate than that furnished by the 
separate "c^tedras/' or chairs of instruction. 



EDUCATION 203 

Throughout the Latin-American univer- 
sities in general, law, medicine and en- 
gineering are the courses of study which at- 
tract the largest number of students; but the 
impulse to take up other branches of learn- 
ing, especially those having to do with the 
wider processes of industry, is becoming 
noticeable in the distinctly progressive re- 
publics. Pharmacy and dentistry regularly 
form part of the curriculum in the schools 
of medicine. In addition to their purely 
technical or professional phases, these three 
principal courses of study are commonly 
made to include a liberal education, on the 
order of that furnished by the colleges of 
England and the United States. In the 
scientific departments the apparatus used 
is imported largely from Europe, and from 
Germany and France in particular. The 
system of university extension and of free 
public lectures, also, has been introduced 
into a few of the more important cities. 

As a rule the students are admitted to the 
university from the secondary schools with- 
out entrance examinations. What in Eng- 
lish-speaking countries is called "college 
life" is conspicuously absent among them; 
or else student activities assume some other 
form. Fraternities, athletic associations and 
contests, debating clubs, musical and drama- 
tic societies, college journalism and the like. 



204 LATIN AMERICA 

are practically unknown. Political interests, 
instead, are often made the subject for dis- 
cussion or manifestation. 

There is one activity, at least, among the 
students in the Latin-American universities 
which merits a word of description. In 
several of the institutions of higher learning 
the practice has recently arisen of forming 
student associations and of holding inter- 
national student congresses. These asso- 
ciations are open to all members of the stu- 
dent body, and in the larger institutions there 
is a separate organization for each school 
or faculty, all of them being grouped into a 
university league. The international student 
congresses are unique of their kind. Con- 
voked chiefly for the purpose of creating a 
wide sympathy among university men, the 
discussions and conferences held, relating 
to problems of interest to students, within 
and without the academic walls, are often 
of much value. 



CHAPTER XVII 

PUBLIC CHARITY AND SOCIAL SERVICE 

As in other countries of the world, so in 
the republics of Latin America, most of 
the hospitals, poorhouses, asylums, re- 
formatories, day nurseries and similar pub- 



PUBLIC CHARITY 205 

lie institutions for the relief of suffering and 
misfortune are maintained either by the 
national government or by the municipalities. 
Those in the larger cities, as a rule, are ex- 
cellently equipped and managed. 

The funds used for the maintenance of public 
charities come from various sources. These 
include grants from the national government 
and the municipalities, a certain percentage 
of judicial fines, part of the proceeds from 
lotteries, the revenues from properties be- 
longing to the institutions concerned, and 
gifts and bequests of a private character. 

As agencies for the encouragement of 
thrift on the part of the poorer classes, 
savings-banks are much less common than 
the so-called "Monte Pio," a species of 
fund for the benefit of widows and orphans, 
and the "Monte de Piedad," a kind of 
national pawnshop conducted by the gov- 
ernment. Of institutions of the latter sort 
the most remarkable, perhaps, is the one in 
the city of Mexico, founded by private 
generosity while Spain was still ruling in 
America. 

As might be expected in countries 
where the giving of alms is a religious 
duty, there are many religious bodies, 
"friendly societies" and similar organiza- 
tions engaged in the dispensing of charity. 
Women are especially conspicuous in the 



206 LATIN AMERICA 

performance of public service of this kind 
in cases where members of their own sex 
or where children are concerned. A very 
large number of charitable institutions, 
in fact, are managed by boards of promi- 
nent men and women who serve without com- 
pensation. 

These private boards of benevolence seem 
to employ the funds in their possession 
wisely, and to discharge their duties effi- 
ciently. The institutions under their charge 
are kept clean and healthful, and the in- 
mates of them rendered as comfortable and 
contented as reason might demand. At least 
this is generally true of the institutions 
in the larger cities, whatever may be said 
of the conditions prevailing at times in the 
provincial towns and in the country districts. 

The field of benevolent societies in Latin 
America, many of which are survivals from 
the colonial period, is usually broader than 
that of similar associations in other parts of 
the world. They often promote measures of 
relief which elsewhere are provided by the 
national or municipal governments. From 
these sources, also, they receive standing 
and financial support. Organizations like 
the "Society of Beneficence," "Ladies of 
Charity" and "Ladies of Mercy" in Buenos 
Ayres, for example, do admirable work. 

Societies or institutes of social service 



SOCIAL SERVICE 207 

have begun to appear in a few of the larger 
cities, and to exert some measure of in- 
fluence on the respective national or munici- 
pal governments, looking to a more effec- 
tive promotion of social welfare. In sev- 
eral of the advanced republics efforts have 
been made to improve the lot of the working 
classes, and to help delinquents. These 
efforts include the determining of the legal 
responsibility of employers for accidents 
to workmen, the regulation of labor per- 
formed by women and children, reform 
in the treatment of juvenile offenders, and 
plans fo'r aiding discharged prisoners to 
make an honest living. 

Some steps, also, have been taken in the 
direction of discouraging alcoholism and of 
providing better conditions of existence for 
the poorer classes in the crowded sections 
of large cities. As Uruguay, the Argentine 
Republic and Brazil have been foremost in 
the enactment of the measures already de- 
scribed, so these countries and others, like 
Chile and Cuba, have provided for the erec- 
tion in their capital cities, and to some 
extent elsewhere, of model tenements or 
other houses for working people. The gov- 
ernment of Brazil, for instance, provides 
building sites whenever possible, exempts 
material for use in construction from the 
payment of import duties, and authorizes 



^08 LATIN AMERICA 

the municipality of Rio de Janeiro to waive 
construction taxes. It provides, furthermore, 
that the amount of rent to be collected from 
the tenants shall be determined in accor- 
dance with a certain percentage of their 
earnings, and loans building companies funds 
for the several purposes mentioned. 

Additional evidence of the growing in- 
terest in social service is furnished by the 
establishment in Buenos Ayres of the "Ar- 
gentine Social Museum," an institution 
engaged in the study of the general prob- 
lems of city and country, and in the promo- 
tion of suitable legislation. To these ends 
it issues various publications, maintains a 
bureau of consultation and conducts lecture 
courses. Leagues against the spread of 
tuberculosis, also, are becoming numerous, 
and in some cases are given active support 
by the respective governments. Brazil, 
for example, admits free of duty drugs and 
instruments for the use of such associations, 
and grants them the freedom of the mails, 

CHAPTER XVIII 

SCIENCE 

When one considers the notions that are 
all too prevalent about the countries of 
Latin America in general, it may seem diffi- 



SCIENCE 20d 

cult to realize that in each republic, depend- 
ing in some measure, of course, on the degree 
of its material advancement, there is to be 
found a body of men who are earnestly 
striving to solve scientific problems and to 
make the results of their investigations 
known. Even if little more than the titles 
of some of the learned societies and similar 
organizations for the promotion of science 
are given, they will suffice to furnish an 
idea of how widely diffused scientific ac- 
tivities in Latin America are. 

Buenos Ayres is the seat of the "Argentine 
Scientific Society, " and Rio de Janeiro that 
of the "Syllogeo Brazileiro," an organi- 
zation comprising the "National Academy 
of Medicine," the "Institute of the Order 
of Lawyers" and the "Academy of Letters." 
Mexico has a "National Academy of Science" 
and Caracas an "Academy of Social Sciences 
and Belles Lettres." Atheneums for the 
holding of lectures and discussions on cur- 
rent problems, and for the cultivation of 
scientific, literary and artistic interests, are 
found in cities like Buenos Ayres, Monte- 
video, San Jose (Costa Rica) and Lima. 

Legal studies are represented, for example, 
by the "Academy of Law and Jurispru- 
dence," in Mexico, the membership of which 
includes the most prominent lawyers and 
statesmen of the country. Medicine and 



210 LATIN AMERICA 

surgery are promoted by the work of such 
organizations as the "Argentine Medical 
Society" and the "National Medical In- 
stitute" of Mexico. The latter body, also, 
gives considerable attention, among other 
things, to the study of Mexican fauna and 
flora. 

In countries where mining is the great 
industry, societies for its development are 
numerous and active. The "National Geo- 
logical Institute" of Mexico, equipped with 
excellent museums, laboratories and other 
facilities for practical work, conducts valu- 
able investigations of the country's re- 
sources. Peru has a "Corps of Mining 
Engineers," which has contributed effec- 
tively to the exploration of the mining dis- 
tricts and to the description of geological 
formations. 

Societies, institutes and academies for the 
study of geography, history and statistics 
are quite as common as those devoted to 
other branches of learning. Among them 
may be mentioned the "Geographical In- 
stitute," at Buenos Ay res; the "National 
Geographical Society," at Lima; the "Phys- 
ical and Geographical Institute, at San 
Jose (Costa Rica); the "Historical and Geo- 
graphical Institute of Brazil," at Rio de 
Janeiro; the "Geographical and Statistical 
Society," at Mexico; and the national acad- 



SCIENCE 211 

emies of history in Venezuela, Colombia 
and Cuba. 

Most of these learned societies publish 
numerous books and pamphlets illustrative 
of the scientific researches carried on under 
their direction. Their libraries, museums 
and varied collections are utilized freely 
by governments and private individuals; 
and their activities in general contribute 
very appreciably to the intellectual and 
material progress of their respective coun- 
tries. 

National and international congresses for 
the discussion of problems connected with the 
study of law and medicine are frequently 
held. Since the close of the nineteenth 
century, however, intellectual cooperation 
of an international sort has taken the form 
of a series of scientific congresses in which 
the program has been far more compre- 
hensive in scope. At the session of the 
fourth Latin-American Scientific Congress, 
held at Santiago, Chile, in 1908, the United 
States, also, was represented; and, to signal- 
ize the entrance of that country into intellec- 
tual fellowship with the other twenty na- 
tions of the New World, the name of the 
assemblage was changed to "Pan-American 
Scientific Congress." 

The scientific subject for which the Latin 
Americans have especial fondness, and in 



m LATIN AMERICA 

which many of them excel, is international 
law. Explanations of this preference are 
not difficult to find. Partly temperamental 
and partly historical, the reasons for it lie 
deep in the processes that have attended the 
course of national development in the coun- 
tries of Latin America. Boundary disputes 
have had some influence; but the chief 
impulse has come from the great number of 
problems associated with the introduction 
of foreign capital and immigration. Many 
treatises, accordingly, have been written 
by Latin Americans on the aspects of in- 
ternational law relating to conditions in 
the various republics. A congress of jurists, 
also, held at Rio de Janeiro, in 1912, made 
considerable progress toward fixing the bases 
of a future codification of the law of nations, 
more especially in its Latin-American bear- 
ings. 

Astronomical observatories and meteoro- 
logical stations are numerous in Latin 
America, particularly in the captial cities. 
Of these probably the best equipped are 
the one connected with the University of 
La Plata, in the Argentine Republic, and the 
National Observatory, near the city of Mex- 
ico. Both are in close communication with 
similar establishments abroad and with 
foreign scientific bodies. 

Practically all of the Latin-American 



SCIENCE 213 

countries have a national museum of some 
kind for the display of objects relating to 
natural history, or to historic events and 
personages. Among the most noteworthy 
of them are the institutions in the cities of 
Mexico, La Plata, Buenos Ayres, Rio de 
Janeiro, Santiago (Chile), San Jose, La Paz 
and Lima, and the Goeldi Museum at Para, 
Brazil. Nearly all of them issue publications, 
and are otherwise active in the advancement 
of science. In several cases their collections 
were brought together under the direction 
of French or German scholars. 

The National Museum of Mexico, one of 
the earliest to be founded in Latin America, 
is famous for its local antiquities. The 
Museum of La Plata, which was originally 
established as an official center of research 
on the model of the Smithsonian Institution 
at Washington, has since come to form part 
of the equipment of the university of that 
name. It is said to contain the largest col- 
lection of American fossils in existence. 
The National Museum at Rio de Janeiro 
is particularly valuable for its assortment 
of minerals, and of objects illustrating the 
life of the various native peoples who in- 
habit, or have inhabited, the huge area of 
Brazil. An excellent collection of pottery 
is housed in the institution at San Jos6. 
The Goeldi Museum at Para is devoted to 



214 LATIN AMERICA 

the exhibition of objects characteristic of the 
region of the Amazon. 

Among the botanical gardens in Latin 
America, the one at Rio de Janeiro deser- 
vedly enjoys the greatest reputation. Cover- 
ing an area of nearly 2,000 acres, it contains 
upwards of 60,000 specimens of vegetation 
from all parts of the world, and especially 
from Brazil itself. 

A few zoological gardens, also, are found. 
The finest of them is located at Buenos Ayres. 
Its grounds are tastefully laid out, and the 
arrangements for the convenience and plea- 
sure of the human visitor are no less effec- 
tive than those of the comfort of its bird, 
beast and reptile occupants. Rio de Ja- 
neiro is about the only Latin-American city 
that has an aquarium of any importance. 

As might be supposed from the descrip- 
tion already given of the aborigines in co- 
lonial times, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, 
Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador are the great rest- 
ing-places of archaeological remains. The 
ruins existing in these countries comprise 
such structures as pyramids, tombs, palaces, 
temples and fortresses. Some of them are 
built of adobe, others of blocks of hewn and 
unhewn stone, often of a prodigious size and 
weight. Many of the monuments, particu- 
larly in Mexico, Guatemala and Bolivia, are 
elaborately carved with representations of 



JOURNALISM 215 

human and animal figures and with sym- 
bolic devices, often accompanied by explana- 
tory texts that still await decipherment. 

Mexico, rightly called the "Egypt of 
America," both for the intrinsic worth of 
its treasures and for the curious resemblance 
they bear to the antiquities of the Nile 
country, is to-day the chief center of archae- 
ological research in the New World. The 
fact has been recognized by the recent es- 
tablishment in the city of Mexico of an 
"International School of American Archae- 
ology and Ethnology," under the auspices 
of several universities of the United States 
and of the respective governments of France 
and Prussia, acting in cooperation with that 
of the republic of Mexico itself. 

CHAPTER XIX 

JOURNALISM 

Every one of the Latin-American repub- 
lics has a number of newspapers and other 
periodicals proportionate in quantity and 
quality to its stage of material progress. 
In the relatively backward states these 
journals are apt to be crude in make-up, 
and often in ideas as well. They consist 
commonly of four pages, badly printed on a 
poor quality of paper. The news they offeir 



216 LATIN AMERICA 

is scanty, and filtered through other Latin- 
American sheets. On the other hand, in 
some of the more advanced countries, par- 
ticularly in those of southern and eastern 
South America, the newspapers have attained 
a degree of development that is quite as- 
tounding. 

In their general appearance, and in the 
arrangement of their reading matter and 
advertisements, the leading newspapers of 
Mexico resemble those of the United States; 
whereas in the republics of South America 
they resemble rather their contemporaries 
in London or Paris. The newspapers of the 
Central-American countries are more like 
those of Spain. Starting with four pages 
in the smaller republics, the dailies range 
through eight or ten pages, with special sheets 
or parts on Sunday, as in Mexico, up to 
thirty-two pages or more at times, as in the 
Argentine Republic and Brazil. Here as 
many as sixteen pages may be given over to 
advertising alone. In treatment, the Latin- 
American newspapers are disposed to imi- 
tate French, Spanish or Portuguese methods. 

When writing news stories the Latin- 
American journalist usually follows the chro- 
nological order, so that often the most im- 
portant facts are contained in the last para- 
graphs. Headings consist, as a rule, of two 
or three lines, and do not always afford a 



JOURNALISM 217 

clear notion of what the article is about. 
The average Latin-American editor, it would 
seem, looks upon the use of more elaborate 
and explanatory headlines as a manifesta- 
tion of sensationalism. A busy man, accord- 
ingly, may have to read the whole news- 
paper before he finds out what he wants. 

Rarely more than one leading editorial 
at a time is furnished. As a rule it is well 
written, and is much longer than similar 
compositions in American newspapers. Sun- 
day editions are infrequent. When issued 
they are sometimes larger than those of week 
days; but they do not ordinarily strive after 
special features, and little effort is made to 
divide them into sections according to sub- 
jects. That hideous thing, called in the 
United States a "comic supplement," is 
almost unknown. Fortunately, also, the 
Latin- American countries have few "jour- 
nals of color," such as "red-headed extras," 
pink sporting-sheets, green sheets in March 
and everyday sheets of the "yellow" kind. 
"Extras, " in the proper sense of the term, are 
seldom issued. 

The leading dailies, especially those in 
southern and eastern South America, regu- 
larly publish a greater amount of foreign 
news than do their contemporaries in the 
United States. The lesser degree of pro- 
vincialism shown in this case is due in some 



218 LATIN AMERICA 

countries, perliaps, to the absence of a social 
and political life at home that is vigorous 
and powerful; in others to the presence 
of large foreign colonies, chiefly of Latin 
stock, who form a potent element in the cir- 
culation of the newspapers. Naturally the 
news of Spain, and, so far as Brazil is con- 
cerned, of Portugal, takes the foremost rank; 
but occurrences in France also occupy 
a position of great prominence. If the news- 
papers of the United States are apt to give 
the reading public an impression that revo- 
lutions and earthquakes are the main events of 
interest in Latin America, the journals of this 
area in turn are equally disposed to entertain 
their readers with accounts of American rail- 
way wrecks, divorce cases and lynchings ! 

Except in a few of the northern republics, 
where the influence of American customs is 
strong, newspapers are rarely sold on the 
streets. Instead, they are placed on sale at 
kiosks, in shops, or else sent out to subscribers. 
The price of the leading papers in South 
America ranges usually from three to five 
cents. In the smaller republics of North 
America they have a circulation of between 
5,000 and 10,000 a day, those of Cuba averag- 
ing as high as 25,000. In the cities of Mexico 
and Rio de Janeiro they reach 100,000 or 
more a day, and in Buenos Ayres commonly 
between 130,000 and 150,000, 



JOURNALISM 219 

Hundreds of periodicals are published in 
sucli cities as Buenos Ayres, Mexico, Monter 
video, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago (Chile) and 
Havana. The first named appropriately 
heads the list with about 500, including 
seventy or more dailies. Printed for the 
most part in Spanish, of course, these jour- 
nalistic productions of the Argentine capital 
include periodicals of one sort or another 
in Italian, French, English, German, Danish, 
Arabic, Turkish, Swedish and Hebrew. 

When one considers the number of persons 
in the Latin-American republics who are 
unable to read and write, and takes into 
account, also, the high price at which news- 
papers are commonly sold, the figures above 
quoted might seem surprising. It must 
be remembered, however, that they refer 
to the circulation of the dailies in the capital 
cities, where educational advantages natur- 
ally are at their best and hence increase 
the percentage of readers. 

Taking the various countries as a whole, 
the reading of the newspapers and other pe- 
riodicals is small in comparison with that 
visible in corresponding areas in the United 
States or Great Britain. Nor are the news- 
papers, as a rule, the recognized organs of 
an effective and democratic public opinion; 
and they cannot become forums of the sort 
until civic education is far more widely 



220 LATIN AMERICA 

diffused in the republics concerned. They 
appear to represent the university class and 
the great landowners, merchants and bankers 
rather than the people at large. 

Yet the size of the reading public in Latin 
America, and the extent of journalistic in- 
fluence on the community, are not to be 
measured by the numerical amount of their 
circulation alone. Most of those who peruse 
the newspapers read them in preference 
to literature in magazine or book form. 
Throughout the less populous areas, indi- 
viduals who know how to read retell the 
news to their less fortunate fellows, at the 
possible risk of diversion from their stated 
employments. In the city of Mexico it is 
even the custom for certain of the newspaper 
offices to post a copy of each issue on a bill- 
board hanging against the front of the build- 
ing, so that the impecunious may learn about 
the events of the day free of charge. 

The greatest newspapers in Latin America 
are published in the capital cities of the 
Argentine Republic, Brazil, Chile and Mex- 
ico. In Buenos Ayres the three journals that 
stand foremost are*'LaNaci6n" (TheNation), 
**La Prensa" (The Press), and "La Argen- 
tina" (The Argentine). Of these the first 
two have long been the standard newspapers 
of the republic; but "La Argentina," which 
in form, composition and tone is more like 



JOURNALISM 221 

an American daily than its contemporaries 
are, has become a powerful rival of theirs. 
All three of them maintain traditions of 
the best sort of journalism as to their out- 
spokenness, criticism and news service. 

"La Nacion" is a handsome sheet of some 
sixteen pages or more; the news it conveys 
is world-wide, well selected and interestingly 
told, and its editorials are sound and schol- 
arly. In addition to its purely journalistic 
activities, it performs a useful public ser- 
vice in publishing numerous cheap editions 
of scientific works and of the better sort of 
literature, for popular distribution. Its 
supply of cable and telegraphic news, which 
is second perhaps only to that of its rival, 
"La Prensa," is quite comparable with the 
best of that furnished in the great cities of 
Europe. 

In many respects "La Prensa" is the most 
remarkable example of journalistic enterprise 
in the world. Of the same general appear- 
ance and size as "La Nacion," it supplies 
a telegraph and cable service that is one of 
the finest in existence, and maintains cor- 
respondents everywhere. In tone it is 
somewhat more sensational than its chief 
contemporary. 

"La Prensa," however, is more than a 
newspaper. It is an institution, and its 
most extraordinary activities lie outside the 



%%% LATIN AMERICA 

domain of what is ordinarily regarded as 
journalism. On the roof of its magnificent 
building are installed an observatory to 
furnish information about the state of the 
weather, and a searchlight to show the loca- 
tion of a fire and flash the news of im- 
portant events. When the news is of un- 
usual importance, a huge siren whistle is 
blown to attract public attention in a still 
more convincing manner. On the national 
holidays of the various countries of the 
world, also, the front of the building is 
draped with flags and bunting appropriate 
to the occasion. 

"La Prensa" has its own electric light 
and power plant, and every sort of modern 
mechanical contrivance to facilitate its work, 
including wireless telegraphy. Even the 
drinking water used by the employees 
is sterilized by electricity. For these em- 
ployees it maintains a restaurant, a gymna- 
sium and other conveniences for recreation, 
and an emergency hospital; and in general 
it provides to the fullest extent for their 
comfort and health. The printing presses 
and linotypes are of the finest American 
make, and the reporters compose their 
"stories" on American typewriters. 

Among the many services installed in the 
building of "La Prensa," and offered to the 
public aboslutely free of cost, are legal and 



JOURNALISM 223 

medical consultation bureaus, and one for 
matters connected with chemistry, agricul- 
ture and stock-raising, as well as a show- 
room for the display of objects relating to 
these branches of industry. It conducts a 
school of music, and offers prizes for unusual 
instances of self-denial and heroism, and for 
the encouragement of popular education. 
It sets aside a number of finely appointed 
rooms for the holding of public meetings, 
in which lectures, plays, concerts and the 
like are given in aid of some particular 
charity. Popular philharmonic societies as- 
semble here to contend for prizes given by the 
paper for excellence in musical composi- 
tion and performance. It also provides a 
public library and reading room. In addi- 
tion to all this, it maintains a suite of lux- 
uriously furnished apartments for the en- 
tertainment of distinguished foreign visitors. 
In Brazil the journalistic situation is 
quite different from that found in the re- 
publics of Spanish America. Here the 
newspapers of the national capital do not 
enjoy a monopoly, to the virtual exclusion 
of the smaller cities and towns of the coun- 
try. On account of the huge size of Brazil 
and the manner of its settlement in colonial 
times, the people of the several States in- 
terest themselves more fully in local affairs 
than is the case in the Spanish-speaking 



224 LATIN AMERICA 

republics. The newspaper press, therefore, 
is primarily local in character and tends to 
generalize the record of happenings in the 
remainder of the country, along with those 
from abroad. 

The dean of the Brazilian press, and a for- 
midable rival of its Argentine contempo- 
raries, is "O Jornal do Commercio" (The 
Journal of Commerce), published at Rio de 
Janeiro. It is truly a great daily, not only 
for the soundness of its editorials and for 
the amount and accuracy of its news, but 
in the material sense as well, measuring, as 
it does, about one and one half times the 
size of the average newspaper in the United 
States. Normally a copy of the "Jornal 
do Commercio" runs from twelve to twenty 
pages, but on special occasions, like Christ- 
mas, it puts forth an edition of more than 
fifty pages. The greatest of Brazilian news- 
papers, also, is fittingly installed in a 
large and handsome building, replete with 
every modern convenience, and provided 
with printing apparatus of the best European 
and American makes. 

The foremost newspaper of Chile is "El 
Mercurio" (The Mercury), and shares with 
"0 Jornal do Commercio" the distinction of 
being one of the oldest newspapers in South 
America. Both were founded in 1827. 
"El Mercurio" is published at Valparaiso, 



JOURNALISM 225 

Santiago and one or two other cities, and 
iias an evening edition entitled "Las Ulti- 
mas Noticias" (The Latest News). In 
form and the number of its pages it bears 
more resemblance to the American type 
of newspaper than it does to that of its con- 
temporaries in Buenos Ayres and Rio de 
Janeiro. Like them it is installed in a fine 
modern edifice, and is provided with the 
apparatus suited to a newspaper plant of the 
first order. Its editorials are well written 
and the news of the day is conveyed in a 
compact and readable form. 

In Mexico the most representative news- 
paper, perhaps, is "El Imparcial" (The 
Impartial); but since the resignation of 
Porfirio Diaz it has lost much of its former 
prestige. Largely influential in bringing the 
ideas of modern journalism into Mexico, 
it has performed a genuine public service 
in putting the newspaper within the reach of 
the poorest classes, through the issuance 
of penny editions. The oldest, and probably 
the best, newspaper in the countries of 
Central America is "El Diario del Salvador" 
(The Salvador Daily), published in the 
capital city of the republic of that name. 
Among the Cuban newspapers, "La Lucha" 
(The Struggle), of Havana, is one of the 
most important. 

In addition to newspapers, of course, all 



226 LATIN AMERICA 

of the countries of Latin America publish 
literary, artistic and scientific journals, many 
of which are apt to have a precarious exist- 
ence. Some of these periodicals of a weekly 
sort, like the one issued at Buenos Ayres and 
entitled "Car as y Car etas" (Faces and 
Masks), have few, if any, precise counter- 
parts in the United States and Great Brit- 
ain. They contain the news of the week, 
illustrated by photographs and cartoons, 
and are supplied, also, with comments 
on current topics, short stories, jokes and 
comic pictures. 

Among the best of the larger illustrated 
journals are "La Ilustracion Sud- Americana" 
and "El Arte Ilustrada," of Buenos Ayres; 
"A Ilustracao Brazileira," of Rio de Janeiro; 
"El Zigzag," of Santiago, Chile; "El Mundo 
Ilustrado," of Mexico, and "El Cojo Ilus- 
trado" of Caracas. Of the more distinctly 
serious magazines, "La Revista de Derecho, 
Historia y Letras" (The Review of Law, 
History and Letters), of Buenos Ayres, oc- 
cupies a foremost place. The literary 
character of these and similar periodicals 
is a distinguishing feature. Most of them 
give proofs of a careful process of editing 
and selection, and are institutions in the 
life of their respective countries. 

In the largest cities of Latin America, as 
already intimated, foreign newspapers are 



LITERATURE 227 

numerous. Of those printed in English, 
the most noteworthy are : "The Standard" 
and the "Buenos Aires Herald" (Argentine 
Republic); "The Montevideo Times" (Uru- 
guay); "The Mexican Herald" and "The 
Star and Herald, " of Panama. The two last 
mentioned are published also in a Spanish 
edition. In the list of semi-weekly, weekly 
and monthly magazines and other periodi- 
cals put forth in English, may be mentioned 
"The Review of the River Plate," "The 
Brazilian Review," "The Chilean Times," 
and three in Mexico, namely, "The Pan- 
American Magazine," "The Mexican In- 
vestor" and "The Mexican Mining Journal." 

CHAPTER XX 

LITERATURE 

During the wars of independence the 
Spanish-American mind busied itself chiefly 
in the composition of fierce invectives against 
the mother country, and of ardent appeals 
to the patriotic spirit of the time. The 
scenes and memories of the struggle were 
slow to find recorders in the poet and the 
historian. Instead, the necessities arising 
out of the new situation appeared to demand 
that attention should be given primarily 
to matters of political import. 



228 LATIN AMERICA 

Even for a half century after independence 
had been won, literary endeavor displayed 
itself largely in assailing or extolling the 
various governments, along with the aspira- 
tions or achievements of the individuals 
who shaped them. So complex were the ques- 
tions offered, and so acute the differences 
of opinion among the factions and leaders, 
that the tinge of partisanship was excep- 
tionally marked. Most of the works, indeed, 
published during this period served little 
more than to reflect the local attitude or 
the personal sentiments of their respective 
authors. 

As conditions in one state or another be- 
came relatively free from internal disturbance, 
constitutional and international law, po- 
litical economy and education were the 
subjects that occupied a position of promi- 
nence. Written mainly from an external 
or abstract point of view, the various treatises 
on these matters were apt to lack definite- 
ness of application to purely national con- 
cerns. Descriptive only too often of in- 
stitutions and practices in Europe, their 
presentation could not exercise a direct and 
potent influence on the life and thought of 
those to whom they were addressed. 

Since about 1876, however, when the Latin- 
American nations in general began to be 
brought into closer contact with the world 



LITERATURE 229 

at large, a keen interest has been aroused 
among them in social and economic problems 
of a concrete character. Journalists, essay- 
ists, novelists, poets and historians have come 
to take an active part in the discussion of the 
principles and measures that may tend to 
solve these problems, so far as they have 
arisen in their own countries. Instead of 
dealing with what concerns Europe, many 
of the authors have sought inspiration in the 
characteristics and environment of their own 
people. The inclination of former days to 
mistake the locality for the nation, and the 
individual for the community, is giving way 
to a spirit of vigorous and intense national- 
ism in all that lies within the realm of the 
intellect. 

Though repudiating the political author- 
ity of Spain, the earlier writers of Spanish 
America long adhered to its literary ideals 
and forms. They had been educated ex- 
clusively in the traditions of the mother 
country. The languages of other European 
lands they scarcely knew. With the close 
of the wars of independence the pure litera- 
ture engendered by the struggle came forth; 
but its expression ran in Spanish molds, 
and followed their changing structure from 
neo-classicism to romanticism. 

Restrained by the tendency of the age to 
concentrate effort on political themes, dis- 



230 LATIN AMERICA 

couraged by the animosities of party strife, 
bereft of communication with the world of 
culture beyond, imaginative thought was 
unable to develop freely its own resources. 
When it finally met the flood of modern 
realism surging to the north of the Pyrenees, 
it was overwhelmed. Escaping the Spanish 
Scylla, it encountered the French Charybdis. 
Only of recent years has Spanish-American 
literature begun to display the vigor, fresh- 
ness, spontaneity and originality which its 
environment ought to suggest. 

The mother country left to its former 
colonies a rich, sonorous and flexible lan- 
guage, together with a literary style at once 
rhetorical, ceremonious, artificial and florid. 
Since then it has watched with disapproval 
what it regards as an abandonment by the 
Spanish Americans of the narrow path of 
correctness closely guarded by the canons 
of the Spanish "Academy of the Language." 
It reprehends their departure from pure Cas- 
tilian, not only in actual speech and or- 
thography, but in syntax and diction as well. 
On their part, the Spanish Americans assert 
that they have a more scientific conception 
of the development of speech. Their cir- 
cumstances, also, they believe, justify them 
in making the Spanish language an instru- 
ment of expression, broader and more 
plastic than is possible in Spain itself. 



LITERATURE 231 

So long as neo-classicism held sway in 
Spanish America, at all events, the stand- 
ards of the Golden Age were strictly up- 
held. The great masters of the seventeenth 
century alone could be imitated, and criti- 
cism dealt harshly with the few daring 
spirits who strove to seek inspiration and 
guidance from some other source. Useful 
though it was in furthering the acquisition 
of taste and style, the model of the Spanish 
classicists proved to be too rigid, too stilted, 
if not altogether too antiquated, to suit 
the mental processes of the modern age. 
Nor was the situation improved by the ex- 
cessively ornamental, and even bombastic, 
qualities of Spanish romanticism, which 
tended to hamper the employment of direct- 
ness, simplicity and conciseness in expression. 
Accordingly the great body of Spanish- 
American poets and prose writers, unable 
to overcome the traditional usages, crossed 
the Pyrenees and surrendered themselves 
unconditionally to the ruling thought of 
France. 

While the Spanish-American mind was 
passing through these vicissitudes, the course 
of intellectual development in Brazil bore 
quite a different character. Portugal had 
not endowed its former dominion with a 
literature so rich, so abundant and so varied 
as Spain had done in the case of its own pos- 



232 LATIN AMERICA 

sessions oversea. Brazilian authors, there- 
fore, while using the Portuguese language 
as their natural vehicle of expression, were 
bound by few, if any, canons of masters and 
academies. Their literary standards they 
formed rather to suit their needs. 

Exempt from the violent contests that 
were agitating the republics of Spanish 
America, the thought of Brazil concerned 
itself little with practical politics, or with 
theorizings about the state and its func- 
tions. Instead, it sought and found subjects 
for song and story in the aboriginal life of 
its own land. The result was that a fervid 
and devoted "Indianism" pervaded the 
literature of the earlier years of the empire. 

Later, in proportion as Brazil came into 
a more intimate relationship with Europe, 
its men of letters fell inevitably into the 
currents of Old World mentality. English, 
German and French philosophy took a 
firm hold on the Brazilian imagination. 
Evolutionism, monism and positivism — each 
had its representatives; but positivism, the 
"religion of humanity," triumphed over its 
competitors. "Order and progress" became 
the national watchwords, and the in- 
fluence of French methods and principles 
has remained in the ascendent, more exten- 
sive perhaps than profound. Yet with all 
its submissiveness to the control thus exer- 



LITERATURE 233 

cised, the literature of Brazil is perhaps 
the most distinctly American in Latin 
America at large. 

Without attempting to point out precisely 
how the intellectual supremacy, which France 
still enjoys in the twenty republics, is 
displayed, it may be sufficient to remark 
that the language and literature of that 
country appear to embody most of the 
qualities that fascinate the Latin-American 
mind. Through its language the Latin 
Americans familiarize themselves with the 
course of events in the literary, scientific 
and artistic world. Through it, also, they 
endeavor to give their own thought a wider 
publicity. French literature furnishes 
them a norm of correctness. Its ideas and 
diction, its content and style, impart re- 
finement and elegance in taste, phraseology 
and expression. 

No European nation has done so much, 
officially and privately, as France to 
strengthen its intellectual power in Latin 
America. The man of letters from any of the 
republics finds there a heartiness of welcome, 
an eagerness to meet his wishes, a desire to 
facilitate his work, which make an irresist- 
ible appeal. In this propaganda a group of 
Latin-American writers resident in Paris is 
taking an active and important share. 

To form a just conception of what the 



234 LATIN AMERICA 

literature of the twenty republics is, and of 
what it seeks to realize, a number of other 
circumstances molding its development 
must be taken into account. Political dis- 
turbances or exigencies, and a somewhat 
excessive amount of foreign influence, have 
not been the only obstacles in the way of 
a full and free assertion of native genius. 
The intellectual isolation, in which Latin- 
American authors have stood toward one 
another, has prevented many of them from 
appreciating the abundance of material for 
treatment afforded by the history and present 
conditions of the various lands and peoples. 
Communication of minds among them, on 
the whole, is weaker even than commercial 
and political connection. 

The Latin-American men of letters may 
know their own particular country or Europe, 
but they are often unable, or unwilling, to 
interest themselves in the mental achieve- 
ments of their neighbors of like or similar 
origin. Cooperation of an effective sort 
is thus impeded, and an impulse given, 
either to make literature provincial, rather 
than American, in spirit, or else to copy 
what Europe offers, without due considera- 
tion of its adaptability to national needs. 

Then, too, a species of intellectual cult, 
handed down from colonial times, is still 
fairly prevalent. An exaggerated respect 



LITERATURE 235 

is shown to the utterances or publications 
of an "authority," whose statements and 
opinions are held to be unquestionable in 
their soundness and veracity. Hence, if any 
given matter is not mentioned, or is con- 
demned, by such an "authority," it does not 
exist, is valueless or is dangerous to believe, 
as the case may be. 

Instead of enjoying a system of education 
widely diffused, an enlightened public opin- 
ion that recognizes and stimulates literary 
genius, an abundance of readers, a multi- 
plicity of publishers, and numerous and 
easily available libraries, the Latin-American 
countries are distinctly lacking in these 
incentives to authorship. Outside of a few 
of the largest cities, the circle of readers is 
probably smaller than that of a single street 
in London, New York or Berlin. If the ad- 
vanced states of the world put forth the 
better sort of books cheaply, in order to 
reach the mass of the people, the reverse 
is commonly true in Latin America. There 
the cost of publication is heavy, and the best 
works are addressed to a very small class, 
issued in limited editions, and usually 
brought out at the expense of the author. 

Laboring in an atmosphere from which, as 
they complain, literary taste and appre- 
ciation are largely missing, the men who 
possess the ability to write books and the 



236 LATIN AMERICA 

means to publish them are almost forced 
to give them away. On the other hand, the 
conjunction of the two endowments is not 
always a benefit to the author and his 
group of readers. As the one is tempted to 
write and publish lavishly, so the other 
is impelled to estimate literary importance 
in terms of quantity rather than of quality. 

Of the lighter literature of Latin America, 
a large part has had to appear in periodicals, 
with the effect of fostering an inclination 
to continue producing it in that form. 
Many of the works of eminent writers exist 
only in fugitive publications, difficult of 
access. Recently, however, efforts have 
been made to collect and republish, in so- 
called "bibliotecas," or "libraries," much 
of the valuable material that may be drawn 
from those and other sources. 

Because of the fact that the sales of almost 
any book of merit are so limited, the expense 
of printing treatises of general interest 
or permanent worth is frequently borne, in 
whole or in part, by the governments. Nor 
is it rare to find official encouragement 
offered to literary enterprise, through the 
award of prizes or the grant of stipends, to 
enable writers of promise to study abroad. 

In most of the countries, the novelists 
and dramatists suffer from the disadvan- 
tage of having no adequate protection against 



LITERATURE 237 

European, and notably French, competition. 
Publishers and managers, it would seem, find 
it easier, and certainly cheaper, to secure 
translations than to interest themselves 
in native works. Although many of the 
republics have a clause in the national 
constitution, guaranteeing the right of an 
author to ownership in the creations of 
his mind, suitable provision is seldom made 
to enforce it. 

This policy of denying the utility of the 
copyright system, so far as local circum- 
stances are concerned, has not a few defen- 
ders in Latin America. They argue, in all 
seriousness, that the free reproduction of 
works originally issued in Europe or the 
United States promotes the growth of 
home talent by force of example, and hence 
conduces to the formation of a national 
literature. Indeed they venture to assert 
that it is the duty of authors in the more 
advanced countries of the world to allow 
their books or plays to be translated gratu- 
itously for the benefit of their less fortunate 
fellows. The larger publicity thus received 
and a happy knowledge of the good thus 
accomplished, ought to be regarded, they 
think, as sufficient compensation. 

Practically all of the states possess na- 
tional libraries, some of which, like those of 
Brazil, Mexico, Chile and the Argentine 



238 LATIN AMERICA 

Republic, are of considerable importance. 
Most of the collections, however, are un- 
suitably housed, and the facilities vouch- 
safed to readers are often quite inadequate. 
Except in the capital cities, public libraries 
are rare. The result is, that the difficulties 
attendant upon transportation make the 
national collections well-nigh useless to per- 
sons who live at a considerable distance. 

Given these drawbacks, the Latin-Ameri- 
can writers who have persevered in spite 
of them deserve all the more credit for what 
they have accomplished. Even if they 
have not brought forth as yet any indi- 
vidual work that has wielded a powerful 
influence on the literature of the world, 
they have composed many of a high type 
of excellence. Were Spanish and Portu- 
guese international languages in the sense 
that English, French and German are, the 
productions of the Latin-American mind 
would be more fully appreciated. 

There is a saying in the tropics that 
"life without literature and quinine is not 
worth living." Whatever the potence of 
the drug, the activity of the Latin-Ameri- 
can intellect, both within and without 
the tropics, certainly would seem to make 
the adage true. The material backward- 
ness, furthermore, of any particular republic 
is no evidence of poverty of mind. Some of 



LITERATURE 239 

the least advanced states have been the birth- 
places of eminent men of letters. While 
every one of the Latin-American countries 
can point with pride to a considerable num- 
ber of gifted writers on many themes, eight 
out of the twenty nations may be singled 
out, perhaps, as literary centers, alike for 
the amount and for the excellence of the 
works produced. These are the Argentine 
Republic, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, 
Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. 

Latin Americans are especially prolific 
in the composition of poetry, to which the 
liquid qualities of the Spanish and Portu- 
guese languages easily lend themselves. Lit- 
erary criticism, also, is an art cultivated by 
them with marked success. Prose fiction, 
and the writing of short stories in par- 
ticular, they have taken up only in recent 
years; hence the number of authors represent- 
ing it is still quite small. Among the more 
serious branches of literature, history, bi- 
ography, ethnology, politics, jurisprudence, 
economics, sociology and psychology are often 
treated at great length and with much skill. 
In the cultivation of some of these phases of 
productive thought, the Argentine Republic 
may be said to excel in politics and social 
science, Brazil in romance, Chile in history 
and Colombia in poetry. 

Literature, to the Latin American, is 



240 LATIN AMERICA 

a form of recreation rather than a stated 
profession. His mental drift being toward 
introspection, he is readily disposed to put 
his soliloquies on paper. He tries, therefore, 
to reproduce his own thoughts, instead of 
seeking to reach the mind of others. 

Public men in the various countries, more- 
over, are apt to be able writers. Political 
life and literary vigor seem to be mutually 
stimulating. Versatility is another marked 
feature of the Latin-American intellect. Its 
most gifted exponents, familiar with many 
branches of learning, and endowed with bril- 
liant imaginative faculties, write almost, if 
not quite, equally as well on one subject as 
they do on another. Accordingly it is diffi- 
cult at times to determine which particular 
type of thought a given author represents. 

Latin-American literature is characterized 
by an ingenious and agile style, an ease and 
elasticity of form, a freedom of expression 
and a singularly rich and varied vocabu- 
lary. While not violating the essential 
principles of grammar, it does not permit 
itself to be dominated by them. On the 
other hand it retains, in some measure, the 
florid, bombastic and redundant elements 
included in the heritage from the mother 
countries. Trending toward exaggerated 
modes of setting forth ideas, it frequently 
lacks terseness and directness. 



FINE ARTS 241 

Many of the best writers of Latin America, 
however, are striving to model their works 
on the masterpieces of prose and poetry of 
all time, and not simply on the literary 
standards of Spain, Portugal or France. 
They are no less earnest, also, in their effort 
to choose their themes from national life 
and from life in the New World at large. 
In this attitude they are being upheld by a 
reaction among the members of the reading 
public in behalf of native authors, which 
may enable them to enjoy an ampler field 
for the display of their genius. 

CHAPTER XXI 

FINE ARTS 

Viewing the twenty republics as a whole, 
native drama, music, architecture, sculp- 
ture and painting appear to stand on a 
much lower level of achievement than native 
literature. Though keenly appreciative of 
all forms of beauty, the Latin American, 
so far as his own creative instinct is concerned 
prefers to give them expression in the written 
word. Other manifestations of the intel- 
lect and the imagination, which yield aes- 
thetic pleasure, he is more content to draw 
from Europe, or to have the government 
furnish them the needful encouragement. 



242 LATIN AMERICA 

Talented as many of the native artists 
are, they can hardly be compared, either 
in genius or productivity, with the great men 
of letters. 

In Latin America the promotion of the 
fine arts is regarded as a distinct function 
of the government, national or municipal. 
Through its operation the double purpose, 
presumably, is accomplished, of stimulat- 
ing native talent and of enhancing 
refinement of taste among the people 
at large. Accordingly the governments in 
most of the republics support outright, or are 
the chief contributors to the maintenance, not 
only of art galleries and museums, but of 
theaters, opera-houses, conservatories of 
music and schools of art. Expositions are 
held under official auspices, and prizes 
are awarded for the best native productions. 
When unusually talented pupils are found 
at any of the institutions, public or private, 
they are frequently given the means to 
study abroad. Cooperating, also, with the 
official agencies, numerous private organi- 
zations supply opportunities for native 
ability to assert itself. All of these efforts 
to foster a love of the beautiful, of course, 
are seen to chief advantage in the national 
capitals, and notably in Buenos Ayres, Rio 
de Janeiro, Mexico, Santiago and Caracas. 

To the Latin-American artist, France and 



FINE ARTS 243 

Italy are the potent sources of inspiration 
and instruction. Paris, in particular, is 
the mecca toward which he sets his face, 
and from which he hopes to gain the recog- 
nition that will bring him fame in his own 
country. The French and Italian schools, 
indeed, exercise a profound and far-reaching 
influence on the development of artistic 
conception and execution everywhere in 
Latin America. 

In the realms of drama and music, several 
of the capital cities can boast of theaters 
and opera-houses comparable with the finest 
of their kind in Europe or the United States. 
The "National" in Mexico, the "Colon" 
(Columbus) in Buenos Ayres, and the 
"Municipal" in Rio de Janeiro and Santi- 
ago, are noteworthy examples of modern 
magnificence and equipment in playhouses. 

Native dramatic talent being scant, nearly 
all the stage productions are brought from 
Europe. While the works of the classical 
Spanish dramatists and of recent Spanish 
playwrights, including the "zarzuela" or 
species of short play set to music, have a 
certain vogue, French and Italian pieces, 
given either in the original or in transla- 
tion, are especially popular. The actors, 
also, come chiefly from Spain, France and 
Italy. 

The Latin-American countries have pro- 



S44 LATIN AMERICA 

duced a number of excellent musicians, and 
not a few composers of merit. As a rule 
the efforts of the native composers are con- 
fined to the writing of patriotic and popular 
songs. Where the music is not clearly of 
European origin, it commonly takes the form 
of marking the rythm of a dance or of ac- 
companying a song. 

Grand opera is everywhere the great at- 
traction, if the financial means are available 
for its support. In cities like Buenos Ayres, 
Rio de Janeiro, Santiago and Montevideo, 
it is presented on a sumptuous scale. Many 
a world-renowned conductor or singer has 
made his debut there. The companies 
usually are Italian, and their repertoire 
consists for the most part of Italian and 
French operas. The heavy dramatic music 
of the Germans does not appeal so much to 
the Latin-American temperament. Some of 
the earlier and more melodious Wagnerian 
operas, and even the prelude and closing 
number of the "trilogy," are sung, but then 
almost always in Italian. 

Concerts and oratorios are frequently 
given in the large cities. Chamber music is 
heard at times, but it is not particularly 
cared for. Band concerts in the public 
squares make abundant provision to meet 
the more popular requirements. 

In nearly all of the national capitals the 



FINE ARTS 245 

important public buildings are handsome 
in design and elaborate in construction. 
Lofty edifices are seen only in a few of the 
largest cities. The houses rarely consist 
of more than two stories, and those of but 
one story are the commonest. Brick and 
stucco, rather than stone, are used as build- 
ing materials, mud and straw, however, 
being the chief components in the huts of the 
poorer classes, especially in the tropical 
areas. Many of the towns still preserve the 
quaint appearance of colonial times. This 
is notably true of their ecclesiastical build- 
ings, the great majority of which date from 
that period. There also, and even in the 
larger cities, the streets are often no wider 
than they were in the days of Spanish and 
Portuguese rule, and hence are apt to 
cause serious congestion of traffic. 

Of late years a marvelous work of trans- 
formation has been effected in several of the 
national capitals, such as Buenos Ayres, 
Rio de Janeiro, Mexico and Montevideo. 
In them, and even in a number of other urban 
centers not so populous, the idea of the "city 
beautifuF'has been cultivated to a very grati- 
fying extent. Vast sums of money have 
been spent to make them respresentative 
of the best that modern conditions of light, 
ventilation, cleanliness and attractiveness 
demand. Broad highways and promenades 



U6 LATIN AMERICA 

have been built, fine public squares laid out, 
and charming parks and gardens constructed, 
the whole replete with fountains, statuary 
and other embellishments. 

Under the direction of its municipal 
art commission, Buenos Ayres, moreover, 
for some years past has been encouraging 
the builders of private structures to render 
them handsome in appearance. It awards 
annually a medal and a diploma to the archi- 
tect designing the best facade, and exempts 
the owner of the edifice that wins the prize 
from the payment of certain taxes. A 
bronze plate with a suitable inscription 
is affixed, also, to the front of the building 
thus chosen for distinction. 

If the Latin-American republics have 
not brought forth many dramatists, musi- 
cians and architects whose names and 
achievements are likely to be long remem- 
bered by their countrymen, the reverse is 
true of the sculptors and painters, especially 
of those of Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Vene- 
zuela. They too have had to face some of 
the difficulties besetting the pathway of the 
men of letters, and in addition have had to 
encounter others peculiar to their own fields 
of activity. 

Much of the handiwork of colonial crafts- 
men, and of many a European master, which 
might have served to kindle the enthusiasm 



FINE ARTS M7 

and emulation of Latin-American artists, 
perished or disappeared during the course 
of the struggle for independence and the 
political agitation following it. The exam- 
ples that survived, and in particular the 
treasures kept in the churches, were only 
too often seized and sold in reckless fashion 
by governments, or revolutionists, to help 
replenish their war-chests. Later, when 
normal conditions had been established, 
questions of material advancement crowded 
out all thought of attention to the plastic 
and pictorial arts. Not until the grade 
of public welfare had reached a point 
where it might provide the needful money, 
leisure and understanding, could they ob- 
tain a fair amount of recognition. 

Like their contemporaries in the field of 
literature, the Latin-American sculptors and 
painters became obsessed with the idea that 
Europe alone could furnish, not only the 
skill and technique required in their pro- 
fession, but the subjects for representation 
as well. Clinging persistently, and even 
blindly, to Greek and French models, the 
works that came from their chisel and brush 
were rarely more than mediocre and lifeless 
copies. Such productions aroused neither 
pleasure nor dislike; they were simply 
to be looked at and forgotten. Only in the 
last decade or two have some of the Latin- 



248 LATIN AMERICA 

American artists begun to realize that, while 
they can derive immense advantage from 
a course of study under European masters, 
they should search primarily in their own 
lands for the inspiration that will quicken 
their creative impulse, and should strive 
to render the expression of it vigorously 
and soundly national. 

Even to-day, as a rule, the Latin-American 
painter is so much under the spell of his 
foreign teachers that he seldom attempts 
to reproduce his native environment. Ob- 
livious to the physical beauties of his country, 
he ignores its landscapes. Nor does he find 
the inspiration that he should in the inter- 
esting and often picturesque social types 
surrounding him — types like the Indians 
and the peasant classes in general, the 
cowboys, ranchmen, rural police and the 
like. Studies of animal life rarely attract 
him. Instead, he covers his canvases with 
representations of historical episodes, or with 
those of the genre order, the subjects of which 
are frequently suggested from Europe. He 
paints portraits, also, and occasionally puts 
forth a religious picture. 

Regarded in its broad outlines, the work 
of Latin-American painters, on the technical 
side, is characterized more by the facility 
of coloring and by tendencies to impres- 
sionism than by a solicitous regard for com- 



FINE ARTS 249 

position and drawing, or by the inward qual- 
ities concerned in the appreciation of senti- 
ments and emotions. The external and ob- 
vious allurements of intensity in the disposi- 
tion of light and shade, the temptation to 
produce striking, and, in a measure, sensa- 
tional effects, are what appear usually to 
captivate their imagination. 

Still, in alluding to the deficiencies of both 
sculptors and painters in Latin America, 
proper allowance must be made for the exis- 
tence of drawbacks not of their own choos- 
ing. The faults are often due to defective 
conditions in their native countries, such 
as a lack of good professional models, an 
insufficient number of public museums or of 
private collections, the mediocre quality of 
most of those actually available and the 
comparative feebleness of financial incen- 
tives offered by local patrons of the fine arts. 

Of the national galleries in the capital 
cities, those in Mexico, Rio de Janeiro, 
Santiago, Caracas and Buenos Ayres are the 
most noteworthy. That of Mexico dates 
from colonial times, and, in spite of the 
many vicissitudes through which its can- 
vases and sculptures have passed, still pre- 
serves much that is a tribute to Mexican 
genius. The galleries in Rio de Janeiro 
and Santiago, furthermore, enjoy the ad- 
vantage of being housed in superb build- 



250 LATIN AMERICA 

ings, recently erected as fitting homes for 
the art treasures of the nations to which 
they belong. 

Although the several collections in question 
are not comparable in any sense with those to 
be seen in the great metropolitan cities of 
the world, they are often of considerable 
interest and value. They contain, not only 
choice examples of the works of native 
artists, but originals and copies of produc- 
tions by many of the celebrated masters of 
Europe. 



APPENDIX 

AREA AND POPULATION (1913) 

The date in parentheses after the name of each republic is 
that of its declaration of independence. In many cases the 
figures given for the area and population are approximate 
only. 

Republic Abea Population 

sq. miles ' 

Argentine Republic (July 9, 1816) . 1,139,979 6,989,023 

Bolivia (August 10, 1825) 708,195 2,267,935 

United States of Brazil (September 7, 

1822 — empire; November 15, 1889 

— republic) 3,218,130 20,515,000 

Chile (January 1, 1818) 291,500 3,500,000 

Colombia (July 16, 1813) 438,436 4,320,000 

Costa Rica (September 15, 1821) . . . £3,000 388,266 

Cuba (April 20, 1898) 44,164 2,161,662 

Dominican Republic (December 1, 1821) 19,325 673,611 

Ecuador (December 11, 1811) .... 116,000 1,500,000 

Guatemala (September 15, 1821) . . 48,290 1,992,000 

Haiti (January 1, 1804) 10,200 2,000,000 

Honduras (September 15, 1821) . . . 46,250 553,446 
United Mexican States (September 28, 

1821) 767,097 15,063,207 

Nicaragua (September 15, 1821) . . 49,200 600,000 

Panama (November 4, 1903) .... 32,280 419,029 

Paraguay (June 11, 1811) 171,815 800,000 

Peru (July 28, 1821) 679,600 4,500,000 

Salvador (September 15, 1821) . . . 7,225 1,700,000 

Uruguay (August 28, 1828) 72,210 1,042,686 

United States of Venezuela (July 5, 

1811) 393,976 2,713,703 



251 



SUGGESTIONS TO READERS 



In the brief list that follows, only books and periodicals 
in English will be mentioned, and those mainly of a general 
character. Accounts of the institutional, intellectual and 
artistic life in Latin America are too scattered, or otherwise 
too difficult of access, to warrant the insertion of more than 
a few titles. Descriptive and statistical data bearing on 
many of the topics treated in the present work will be found 
in the Bulletin, handbooks and other publications of the 
Pan-American Union (Washington, D. C), the chief official 
source of general information; in the South American Supple^ 
ment, issued monthly by "The Times" (London), and in The 
Statesman's Year Book. 

Colonial period and wars of independence. E. G. Bourne, 
Spain in America. B. Moses, South America on the Eve of 
Emancipation. R. G. Watson, Spanish and Portuguese South 
America. See, also, the appropriate chapters in the Cam- 
bridge Modern History. E. J. Payne, History of the New World 
called America (native civilization before the arrival of the 
Europeans). A. Helps, The Spanish Conquest in America. 
C. H. Haring, The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the Seven- 
teenth Century. II. C. Lea, The Inquisition in the Spanish 
Dependencies. F. A. MacNutt, Bartholomew de las Casas. 
R. P. C. Graham, A Vanished Arcadia (Jesuit missions in 
Paraguay). S. Baxter, Spanish Colonial Architecture in 
Mexico. A. H. Noll and H. P. McMahon, The Life and Times 
of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (revolutionary movement in 
Mexico). F. L. Petre, Simon Bolivar. B. Mitre, The Eman- 
cipation of South America. F. L. Paxson, The Independence of 
the South American Republics. 

General history and description. A. H. Keane, Stanford's 
Compendium of Geography and Travel: Central and South 
America. F. Garcia Calderon, Latin America: Its Rise and 
Progress (from the standpoint of a Peruvian). James Bryce, 
South America: Observations and Impressions (last five 
chapters, good political survey of the Latin-American coun- 
tries as a whole). S. Bonsai, The American Mediterranean; 
and F. Treves, The Cradle of the Deep (the republics in and 
around the Caribbean Sea). A. Fortier and J. R. Ficklen, 
Central America and Mexico. F. Palmer, Central America 
and its Problems. T. C. Dawson, The South American Repub- 
lics. C. E. Akers, A History of South America. R. P. Porter, 
The Ten Republics. A. Ruhl, The Other Americans. 
252 



SUGGESTIONS TO READERS 253 

Individual countries. W. H. Koebel, Argentina. W. A. 
Hirst, Argentina. M. R. Wright, Bolivia. P. Denis, Brazil. 
G. F. S. Elliot, Chile. P. J. Eder, Colombia. R. Villafranca, 
Costa Rica. F. Lindsay, Cuba. N. O. Winter, Guatemala. 
C. R. Enock, Mexico. A. Edwards, Panama. M. R. Hardy, 
Paraguay. C. R. Enock, Peru. P. F. Martin, Salvador. 
W. H. Koebel, Uruguay. L. V. Dalton, Venezuela. 

The constitutions of the Latin-American countries will 
be found in J. I. Rodriguez, American Constitutions. For the 
financial situation, see the annual report of the Council of 
the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders (London). Educa- 
tional conditions are described in P. Monroe, An Encyclopedia 
of Education. Accounts of ancient monuments are given in 
L. Spence, The Civilization of Ancient Mexico; A. C. and A. P. 
Maudslay, A Glimpse at Guatemala, etc., and T. A. Joyce, 
South American Archceology. For the intellectual develop- 
ment see the articles on Latin- American literature in Warner's 
Library of the World's Best Literature (Vol. XV;, and the En- 
cyclopedia Americana; and on Portuguese-Brazilian literature 
and Spanish-American literature in The New International 
Encyclopedia. Translations of representative works in F. 
Starr, Readings from modern Mexican Authors; R. Fernandez 
Guardia, "Cuentos ticos" (short stories of Costa Rica), 
J. Isaacs, Maria, a South American Romance (Colombia). 
Fine arts: R. H. Lamborn, Mexican Paintings and Painters. 



INDEX 

A, B, C Alliance, 100 state of development of, 241- 

Africa, 27 242 

Agriculture, 42, 49,154-155, 157-158 Arts and Trades, schools of, 197-8 

Alcabala, 43 Audiencia, 25-26, 75 

Alcaldias mayores, 27 Asia, 27 

America, discoveries and settlement Asiento, 22, 46 

of, 9-16 " Atacama, Desert of, 96 

Americans, 128, 193-194 Averia, 45 

Anchieta, Jos6 de, 59 Ayuntamiento, 27 

Araucanians, 29, 90 Aztecs, 11 
Architecture, 245-248 

Area of Latin \iLCi ca, 107-108 Balboa, 11, 12 

Argentine Contedeiation, 92 Banana cultivation, 158 

Argentine Republic, 13, 74, 94, 98, Banks, 168-169; nationaI,15S 

99, 107. 109, 113, 119, 121, 125, Bogota, 25, 201 

127, 131, 141, 151, 152, 155, 158, Bolfvar, Sim6n, 75, 85-87, 99 

163-165, 174-179, 181-186, 188- Bolivia, 12, 25, 42, 75, 94. 97, 107- 

190, 195, 207, 237. 108, 113, 118, 124, 161, 174-176, 

Arica, 97 181, 186-187, 195, 214 

Art, French influence on, 243; galle- Books, publication of, 2S5-2S6; 

ries, 249-250; government aid to, sales of, 238; copyright system, 

242; Italian influence on, 243; lack of, 237 



254 



INDEX 




Boundary disputes, 96 

Brazil, 13, 15-17, 19, 27, 38, 46, 
48-49, 59, 67, 68, 77, 78, 92, 
94-95, 98, 100, 107, 109, 110, 
112, 118-121, 123, 125-126, 129, 
139, 141, 151-152, 155, 158, 160, 
165, 174-179, 181-190, 195, 201, 
207, 214, 218, 223, 231, 233, 237, 
239, 246 

British Honduras, 19 

Buccaneers, 18 

Buenos Ayres, 33, 75, 91, 109, 111, 
123, 140, 201, 206, 208, 210, 213, 
219-220, 226, 242-244, 249 

Business customs, 170-172 

Cabildo, 27 

Cacao, production of, 160 

Caliche, 156 

Capital, foreign, 84, 156, 169, 184- 

185; lack of, 165 
Capitulaciones, 22 
Captiancies, 25, 28 
Caracas, 33, 201, "^^209, 242, 249 
Casa de Contratacion, 43 
Caudillo, 83 

Charitable institutions, 206-208 
Ckarqui, 164 

,Chile, 12, 13, 19, 25, 75, 90, 94, 96. 97, 

■/ 100-101, 107, lOS, 113, 118, 121, 

^ 125, 127, 131, 151, 155, 174, 176, 

^--., 181-184, 195 207, 237, 239, 246 

Church, work of, 60; and State, 139 

Cities, 140 

Citron fruits, cultivation of, 158-159 
Classes, social, 131-132 
Clergy, 51 

Climate of Latin America, 109-111 
Code Napoleon, 150 
^ , Codes, legal, 150 

; Coffee production, 159-160 
i- Colombia, 11, 25, 42, 75, 94-95, 
■/■ 107, 118, 119, 139, 152, 168, 

174-178, 181-182, 188, 239 
Columbus, Christopher, 9, 24 
Congressmen, election of, 148; 

qualifications of, 148-149 
Conquistadores, 13 
Conquistas de almas, 55 
Conquest, motives of Spanish for, 

13; results of, 14 
Constitutions, nature of, 82-83, 

141-142 
Corregimientos, 27 
Cortes, Hernando, 12 
Council of the Indies, 23 
Costa Rica, 90, 94, 98, 109, 119, 

125, 131, 158, 174, 175, 195 
Creoles, 33 
Cuba, 76, 94, 95, 119, 125, 131, 141, 

168, 174, 176, 182, 195, 207, 218 



Curas, 51 
Currency, 151-152 

Demarcation line, 10 
Deputies, Chamber of, 148 
Dias de moda, 138 
Diaz, Porfirio, 95, 225 
Dictators, 86-87, 89 
Doctrineros, 51 

Dominican Republic, 94, 101, 102, 
119, 124, 174, 177-178, 181, 185 
Drago Doctrine, 103 

Ecuador, 12, 25, 75, 90, 107, 119, 
139, 167, 174-176, 188, 214 

Education, 60-61; methods of, 193- 
195; primary, 199; professional, 
200-203; technical, 197-198 

Elections, 144-146 ' 

Employer's liability, 207 

Encomienda, 40 

Entradas, 55 

Eseoceses, 88 

Estancieros, 132 

Exports, 174-178; agricultural, 174- 
175; animal products, 175; forest 
products, 175; mineral, 174 

Fauna, 116-117 

Fazendieros, 132 

Ferdinand VH, 72-73 

Fiestas, 56 

Fleet system, 44-46 

Flora, 118-120 

Foreigners, rights of, 102-103 

Forest products, 118 

France, 19, 45, 72, 100, 178, 231, 

241-243 
Freemasons, 88 

Gauchos, 131 

Gente de razon, 35 

Germany, Ge-mans, 128, 156, 173, 

193-194 
Gobernaciones, 26 
Gobiernos, 27 
Government, Portuguese colonial, 

27-29; Spanish colonial, 20-27 
Governments, forms of, 141-143; 

municipal, 7 "S 
Grand opera, £4 i 

Great Britain, 77, 79, 100, 101, 178 
Guanaco, 116 
Guatemala, 12, 90, 94, 98, 102, 114, 

116, 119, 174-175, 177-179, 214 
Guianas, 19 

Uacendados, 132 

Haciendas, 134 

Hague Peace Conference, 100 



INDEX 



^55 



Haiti, 79, 94, 102, 119, 124, 174, 175, 

177, 178, 181 
Harbors, 108, 109 
Havana, 33, 140, 219 
Heretics, 34 
Hispaniola, 9, 11 
Honduras, 90, 94, 98, 102, 118, 139, 

174, 176-177, 181, 214 

Iguazii, falls of, 116 

Imports, 177-179 

Immigrants, 169 

Immigration, 81-84, 126-129 

Incas, 30, 37 

Independence, British aid to, 74; 
character of struggle for, 69-70; 
French influence on, 71-72; recog- 
nition of, 76-77, 79; United States 
sympathy for, 76 

Indians, civilization of, 29-30, 39; 
conversion of, 55-57; enslave- 
ment of, 31, 36, 40; instruction of, 
65-56; religion of, 52-54; social 
relations of, 35, 36, 38; treat- 
ment of, 30-31, 36, 39^41, 53-57 

Industries, government aid to, 164- 
155 

Inquisition, 50, 54, 62 

Intendants, 27, 41 

International law, 212 

Irrigation, 154 

Italy, Italians, 127, 173, 243 

Juarez, Benito, 92 
Jesuits, -i^r^-fff-S^, QS_^ 
Joao, 78 

Journalism, 65, 215-227 
Judicial system, 149 
Juntas, 73 

Jurisprudence, Latin American, 
149-150 

Labor, supply of, 133-135; lack of 
skilled, 165 

Las Casas, Bartolome de, 54-55, 59 

Laws of the Indies, 24 

Libraries, national, 237-238 

Lima, 33, 61, 65, 201 

Literacy, 192 

Literature, Latin American, 63-64, 
68, 227-240; authority in, 234- 
235; characteristics of, 227-228; 
French influence on, 231; Spanish 
influence on, 229; subjects of, 228- 
229 

Llama, 116 

Llaneros, 131 

Lottery, 140 

Mail service, 191 
Magellan, Straits of, 185 



Maguey, 167 

Mamelucos, 37 

Manufacturing, 165-168 

Mayas, 59 

Meat industry, 164-165 

Mestizo, 32 

Metric system, 173 

Mexico, 19, 42, 74, 75, 88, 94, 95, 
98, 101, 107-109, 113, 114, 118, 
120, 123, 128, 129, 139, 141, 154, 
167, 174-176, 178, 182, 185, 195, 
210, 214-216, 225, 237, 239, 243, 
246 

Mexico City, 33, 62, 172, 184, 205, 
242, 244, 249 

Military service, 150 

Minas Geraes, 47 

Minerals, 118 

Mining, 47, 154, 156-157 

Miranda, Francisco de, 74 

Missionaries, 51-52 

Mita, 40 

Monroe Doctrine, 76, 103, 105 

Montesquieu, 71 

Montevideo, 140, 201, 219, 244- 
245 

Mulatto, 32 

MuriUo, 67 

Museums, 213-214 

Napoleon, 77 

Napoleon III, 101 

Negro slaves, 30, 37, 46, 49, 55, 95 

New Spain, 25, 60, 73 

Newspapers, Latin American, 65- 

66, 215-227; character of, 215- 

216; circulation of, 218-219; 

dailies, 217-218; 220, 225 
Nicaragua, 11-12, 90, 94, 98, 102, 

107, 112, 114, 118, 167, 174-176, 

181 

Painting, 66-67, 246, ^49; European 

influence on, 242 
Pampas, 113, 164 
Panama, 94, 95, 107, 111, 139, 175- 

177 
Panama, Canal, 191; Congress, 99; 

hats, 167, 175 
Pan-American Scientific Congress, 

211 
Pan-Americanism, 105-106 
Pan-American Union, 106 
Paraguay, 12, 25, 57, 75, 94, 98, 

107-108, 152, 160, 167, 174-179; 

189 
Paulistas, 16-17 
Pedro (Emperor) 78-79 
Pedro II, Dom, 93 
Pelota, 140 
Peonage, 133-134 



^56 



INDEX 



Personal characteristics of Latin 

Americans, 185-136 
Peru, 25, 37, 42, 62, 73, 75, 94, 101, 

118-119, 124, 161, 165, 174-177. 

186, 188, 195, 210, 214, 239 
Philippines, 26 
Pirates, 18 

Pizarro, Francisco, 12 
Political, ideas, 85-89; issues, 145; 

parties, 144-145 
Population, 82-33, 38, 122-123; 

density of, 121 
Portugal, 9. 10, 17, 18, 27, 48, 49, 

78, 218, 231, 241 
President, office of, 140-147; tenure 

of, 146 
Presidencies, 25 
Printing, 61-63, 77 
Public debt, 160-151 
Public opinion, lack of,'^142 
Pulque, 167 
Puna, 110 

Quetzal, 116 

Race elements, 123-130; mixture of. 
31—32 

Railways, 179, 181-189 

Real patronato, 50 

Reductions, 57 

Register ships, 46 

Remesas de Indias, 43 

Repartimiento, 40 

Republics, classification, 94 

Rio de Janeiro, 109, 125, 140, 201, 
209-210, 212, 214, 219 

River, systems, 114-116; navi- 
gation of, 189-190 

Robertson, 71 

Romeria, 56 

Rousseau, 71 

Rubber industry, 161-163 

Salvador, 12, 90, 94, 98, 108, 131, 
174, 178 

Saint Domingue, 79; French ex- 
pedition to, 80 

San Martin, 75 

Santiago de Chile, 123, 140, 225- 
226, 242-244, 249 

Sao Paulo, 15, 16, 160 

Saroche, 110 

Sculpture, 66-67, 246-249; Euro- 
pean influence on, 247 

Senate, 148 

Situados, 43 

Smugglers, 18 

Social service, 206-208 



Societies, learned, 209-211; scien- 
tific. 209 

Spain, Spaniards, 9, 13, 17-19, 46. 
50, 72, 77, 80, 173, 216, 241, 243 

Sports, 140 

Stock raising, 42, 154-156, 163-164 

Student Congresses, International. 
204 

Student life, 203 

Suffrage, 143-144 

Tacna, 97 

Tariff, 173 

Taxation, 43, 48, 151; forms of, 161 

Teachers' Associations, 199 

Textiles, 166-167 

Tobacco culture and manufacture, 

167-168 
Toussaint L'Ouverture, 79-80 
Towns, 140 

Trade, amounts of, 176-176 
Training schools for teachers, 194. 

200 
Transportation, charges for, 180; 

metnods of, 179-180 

Universities, 61, 200-201, 208 

Unitaries, 88 

United States, 19, 71, 76, 88, 95, 98, 

101, 103-107,114, 123, 170, 177, 

179, 200, 218 
United States in its relations to 

Latin America, 103-106 
Uruguay, 18, 77, 94, 98, 113, 125- 

126, 181, 139, 151, 155, 158, 165. 

175-176, 178-179; 181, 183, 189- 

190, 195, 198, 202, 207, 239 

Valorization of coffee, 160 

Vaqueros, 131 

Venezuela, 11, 25, 74, 92, 94, 102, 

141, 174-178, 239, 246 
Vice-President, 146-147 
Viceroy, 26, 29 
Vice royalties, 26 
Vicuna, 116 
Visitadores, 23 
Voltaire, 71 

Washington, peace conference at, 98 

Welser, 11 

Women in Latin America, 138-140 

Yerha, 160-161 
YorUnoa, 88 

Zainbo, 32 



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